#15 The First Day of Winter

The First Day of Winter
Author: Denise Fleming
Illustrator: Denise Fleming
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company  2005
27 Pages

Traditional

          I thought this book was amazing because, although it is a newer book, it has the feel of a book from when I was younger. The author's own rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is really sweet. Fall and winter are my favorite seasons, so I love books that magnify beauty and feelings of those seasons.
          In this book, instead of the traditional "Twelve Days of Christmas", Fleming celebrated the first 10 days of winter. It is told from a snowman's perspective. Each day his best friend brings a different gift to him. Throughout the story, it looks as if the animals are bringing the gifts, but at the end, there is a small child who brings the 10 salty peanuts. What matters is that he has all he needs to be a cozy snoman.
          The mediums used in these illustrations include colored cotton fiber, handcut stencils, and squeeze bottles. The images are not very sharp, but that makes it almost whimsical and dreamlike. All of the animals are looking up at the snowman, making their friendship more apparent
          The age group I would choose this particular book for would be kindergarten and first-grade. The words are simpler and easier to understand. The content is really easy to comprehend and is repetative to help with fluency.
          I would use this book for fluency and vocabulary purposes. Words and phrases are used over and over so after finding meaning of the words, the students can practice fluency with the remaining pages.
          There are no awards attached to this book.