Winter Sleep: A Hibernation Story

by Sean Taylor, Alex Morss, Cinyee Chiu

In this cozy bedtime story, follow a child and his grandma through a winter landscape to explore how the Earth goes to sleep for winter. Spot the sleeping animals as the tale unfolds, then learn about their hibernation habits from the information pages at the end.

Co-authors Sean Taylor (picture book author) and Alex Morss (ecologist, journalist, and educator) offer a gentle introduction to the concept of hibernation. In the frosty, quiet forest, the snow blankets the ground and the trees have shed their leaves. Where have all the animals gone? Are they asleep too?

In each cutaway scene, see what the child cannot—that underground below his feet are dens with sleeping creatures, and within the hollow trunks of trees, animals are nesting. After the story, annotated illustrations explain the hibernation facts for each animal and what they will do when they wake up for spring.

Cozy up as you expand you and your child's knowledge of the natural world.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Nature, Childrens, Science, Nonfiction, Holiday

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 17, 2019

About the author

Sean Taylor started writing poetry as a teenager. In 1993, he came across a newspaper article which reported that a goat slaughtered in Iran had been found to have teeth made of gold. He tried writing a story for children. It was called 'The Goat with the Golden Teeth' and it won second prize in a competition run by the British newspaper 'The Independent' and Scholastic Children's Books. Since then, Sean has focussed on writing for children and has published over forty books for young readers of different ages. As well as writing, he has many years’ experience visiting schools, where he works with poetry and storytelling to encourage young people to write themselves. He lives partly in England (where he was born) and partly in Brazil( where his wife is from.)

Reviews

[PattyMacDotComma · Rating 5 out of 5]

5★
"HOW YOU CAN HELP
• Leave out fresh water and feeders to help birds in the cold weather.
• Create some safe winter cover for mammals. This can be done by putting up a bat box, building a log pile, or making a compost heap or wild scrubby area.
• Provide safe resting places for reptiles in compost, leaf piles, logs, and rocks.
• Plant lots of flowers so there’s plenty of food for minibeasts when they wake up in spring.
• Clear your pond of fallen autumn leaves so the water stays healthy for pond life during winter."

And that's the end of the story! A little boy loves to visit his Granny Sylvie's house because she knows everything worth knowing and takes him to a secret glade in the woods where they see lots of animals, birds, insects, fish, flowers, ferns, trees - all things that would delight any of us.

When he returns to visit in the winter, he wants to know why so many have disappeared. Granny, of course, knows more than the names of the wild things, she knows all about them and explains it in simple language, sparking a real interest.

The illustrations by Cinyee Chiu are delightful and I'm sure in the final publication, the printing will be fine. You'll see in some of these examples, a few words have overlapping letters.


Picture of Granny Sylvie and grandson looking at a dormouse on the tree



Picture of the dormouse hibernating



Picture of Granny Sylvie showing where the stag beetles are hidden down underfoot



Pictures of other small creatures hidden away for the winter.



Picture showing frog "asleep" under water



Picture of Mama bear hibernating with a cub.



Picture of one of several pages of very little creatures

There is a lot of information explaining what hibernation is and where to learn more about animals and reptiles. This should set a lot of kids on their way. Most children are curious about the natural world, and this is a great book to whet their appetites. And don't forget the list I put at the front.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing for the preview from which I've selected a handful of pictures to whet your appetites, too. Excellent for the northern hemisphere holiday season! All grandparents - note!

[Christi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved reading this story. The illustrations and story were so peaceful and calming that I really took my time as I read it, drawing in all the beautiful touches the illustrations put in to enhance the story.

Thoughts:
It is summer and a little boy is visiting his grandmother’s house. A house that has a beautiful, lush flower garden and is in walking distance to a pond, small hills, and a little forest. The birds are singing and the butterflies and bees are flying by. They sit down in the middle of this lush forest and are at peace looking at all the nature.

The boy comes back in winter and asks to go see the secret place they had visited in the summer, but when they do he notices that nothing is the same. Everything is gone and dead. That’s when the grandmother explains to him what different creatures do during the winter. She shows him locations of where they might be and how they protect themselves during this time.

First, I loved the illustrations. They were so soothing to look at – varied colors in the summer, followed by shades of white, brown, and grey for winter. I need to learn more about art so that I can say definitively that they are watercolor pictures with pencils, but unfortunately I don’t know enough so I can only guess. But, I loved how the story provided more than just what a typical picture book might include: bears and ground squirrels. But in Winter Sleep, we learn about dormice, fish, insects (earwigs, moths), frogs, bats, and more. At the end of the story is more information about hibernations. It provides a full page of what it means, but then the following pages shows even more animals and insects and how they hibernate – such as woodchucks, hedgehogs, gila monsters, leopard geckos, sand lizards, Everest jumping spiders (this one was rather interesting to read about), earthworms, and many more. The last section of the book provides a page identifying ways you can help – even at your home.

Recommended to all.

Rating: 5 stars

[Erika Sarutobi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really cute way to introduce children to animals that hibernate albeit the book was short. The artstyle is extremely adorable and I love the coloring they chose in each page that I wanted more. I wasn't aware that insects hibernate too since they usually have a short life span.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

In winter, Granny Sylvie takes her grandson back out to a secret glade they had visited in the summer. With trees now bare and animals scarce, the boy laments, “Nothing’s alive in winter!” Then Granny Sylvie explains hibernation amongst trees, mammals, fish and even insects. A more detailed description of hibernation follows the enchanting story, including tips on how to aid animals in winter.

Young and old alike will be taken with the lovely prose from picture book author Sean Taylor and ecologist Alex Morss and the charming illustrations by Cinyee Chiu. Highly recommended.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

[La Coccinelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't really impress me. It might be fine for kids who are really interested in the subject of hibernation. While the non-fiction parts of the book are interesting enough, the story is kind of sparse.

This book is kind of a fiction/non-fiction hybrid. The first part is a story about a kid and their grandmother going into the woods and talking about hibernating animals, while the second part is more like a textbook with information about the hibernation habits of different creatures. I liked the first part better, even though it didn't have as much information. The second part just seemed like a bit of a slog to me. I wish that more of that factual information had been included in the story, rather than as a separate section at the back.

There are a number of typos and errors in the text (the dialogue paragraphs aren't punctuated correctly, for example) and the narrative overall is kind of dry. The illustrations are probably the strongest part of this book.

Overall, I didn't love this. However, if the technical errors are dealt with, this could be a good book to teach kids about the subject of hibernation.

Thank you to NetGalley and words & pictures for providing a digital ARC.

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet and quiet picture book about hibernation. I love it because of the winter imagery (so nice to see my favorite season getting some love!) but I think it will also be a great homeschooling book in the future.

[Alastair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic book in this series: delightful story, interesting facts, amazing illustrations

[BrookesEducationLibrarian]

This picture book is now available for loan from the SEC at Harcourt Hill Library :)

[Laura (Book Scrounger) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Winter Sleep uses a story of a boy who visits his grandmother as a framework to describe some of the ways that many woodland animals hibernate during the winter. The book begins with a brief look at some animals in their wide-awake forms during summer, before contrasting this with the colder and quieter winter scene.

I enjoyed the illustrations that use plenty of earthy colors to show pond life, smaller animals like mice and insects, as well as larger animals like bears as they take their winter rest. The "story" itself is a bit sparse, but serves well enough as a more conversational way to present the information.

This reminded me a bit of Over and Under the Snow. It's less poetic, but contains more informational pages at the end. It also refers to bugs as "minibeasts" which I thought was an amusing term -- I assume it's a British convention.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great children’s book that introduces what various animals and creatures do to get through Winter.
The books works for younger children and older siblings more able to learn a more science based approach.
The concept of Winter Sleeps expands in this way into hibernation in its varied forms.
I loved the concept here to entertain and educate. To contrast the vibrancy of a forest scene from Summer to Winter.
On a serious level, beyond the simple story that will appeal to all ages, is the science with a mini bio on a number of creatures and mini beasts that hunker down when it gets cold.
I also liked the the follow up details for websites with more information and reference points.
It was also refreshing to see hints on how we can help out and assist nature in creating the best habituate and environment for these special creatures. So like the best books it is a joy to read and gives an impetus to get out and explore our world.
The story relies on the premise that one generation passes on knowledge to the next generation and the characters envisaged here carry the story well and prompt each of us to take up this baton.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this picture book about hibernation are really wonderful, but parts left me frustrated. The book is a story for the first half, about a boy who visits his grandmother's property and explores all of the nature in the summer and then comes back to visit in the winter when it appears that all the animals are gone. Grandma explains about hibernation and the illustrations show lots of animals like bears, fish, insects, bats, bees, etc. hibernating. The second half of the book goes into paragraphs about the ways that various animals, insects and other creatures hibernate, as well as a definition of hibernation.

My frustration with the book was that it doesn't do a great job of explaining what hibernation actually is, and doesn't deal with the fact that scientists don't even agree about whether some of the animals mentioned actually hibernate. It also doesn't talk about the fact that many animals rouse from "hibernation" and go out and gather food and such on warmer days.

For example, here's what the Sierra Club says about whether bears hibernate:

"Ask anyone which animal comes to mind when they hear the word “hibernate” and their response will likely be a brown or black bear. It may be common to picture a burly, fattened-up mama grizzly slumbering away in her winter den deep in the woods while the white snow blankets everything in sight. This follows with the dangerous misconception that sleeping bears are nearly impossible to arouse during the winter months. True hibernation occurs when an animal drastically lowers their body temperature to nearly match their surroundings, and sleeps through the winter. Hibernating animals, like woodchucks, appear lifeless and are not easily awakened.

Bears, on the other hand, exhibit torpor, a shorter-term reduction in body temperature accompanied by lethargy. Heart rate drops, but not as much as that of true hibernators. Though less active than usual, bears in torpor can readily respond to external stimuli."

The book does not talk at all about the fact that many of the animals mentioned do rouse on warmer days, or about lowered body temperature as a means of determining hibernation. If you're going to pick up a picture book to teach children about hibernation, it ought to have really good information about the subject and cover even the elements that aren't as easy to explain.

All that said, it has great art and it does provide a lot of information about what various animals and insects do in the winter.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

[Vanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooi prentenboek over een kindje wiens oma heel veel van de natuur afweet. In de zomer neemt ze haar kleinkind mee naar een open plek in het bos waar er volop dieren te zien zijn. Maar wanneer ze in de winter terugkeren lijkt het bos wel leeg van leven. Gelukkig weet oma te vertellen welke dieren er nog allemaal zijn en waarom je ze niet ziet. Wie doen er allemaal een winterslaapje?

Met achterin een lijstje met bijzondere dieren onderverdeeld in drie categorieën, die allemaal aan winterslaap doen of hun eitjes ingraven in de winter. Ook is er een algemeen stukje uitleg over wat Winterslaap inhoudt. En tot slot is er een kort lijstje wat je kan doen om dieren de winter door te helpen, inclusief nog een korte bronnenlijst voor meer informatie. Leuk dus om voor te lezen én handig voor een werkstuk voor de kleinsten.

Met mooie illustraties in wintertinten die rustig ogen en je helemaal in de najaar sfeer plaatsen.

[Dasha Slepenkina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big thank-you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

4/5 - Really liked it.

This book is split into two parts. The first is a sweet, beautifully illustrated story of a child learning about the cycles of nature from a wise grandparent. The second is a more scientific explanation of what hibernation is and an account of how different animals survive the winter.

The first section is very enjoyable and peaceful. It makes for a good bedtime story. The second is really interesting, to nature-loving children and adults alike. The vocabulary in this section is advanced, but accessible to the average child, especially one interested in nature.

I would recommend this to parents, educators, and librarians.

[Bran Pendergrass · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this little tale! I really enjoyed the over message of the story and would read this to my children nd to those in their class. I liked the illustrations and thought the book well thought out.

[Victoria Prunici · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it to my 2.5 month old son. Pure 💛

[Lianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely gorgeous illustrations, and such a lovely, gentle exploration of hibernation.

[Ms. Arca · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Especially love when books like this have additional scientific information for kids to explore in the back. So many animals and creatures hibernate!

A fun way to foster curiosity during the shift to the colder months.. love that it is a grandma who is the knowledgeable scientist and model of curiosity for her grandson.

The writing is just okay for me, but the other parts make it strong for me and so easy to use in the classroom/ with the young middle grade range.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an arc of this book from NetGalley for an honest review. This may be my new favorite picture book of the year. Excellent illustrations and a great story about what happens to animals in the winter. My nephew will be getting a copy, especially since he has a grandma Sylvie and she knows the names of the plants.

[Jennifer Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winter Sleep is a story about a young boy that visits his grandmother in the spring. The two enjoy a nature walk together and explore various aspects of the natural world around the grandmother's house. The boy returns in the winter and hopes to have a similar experience with nature. However, he is disappointed to learn that many changes took place when winter began. He remarks that everything looks dead and his grandmother uses this as a teachable moment to help him learn about some of the organisms that are hibernating for the winter. The end of the book includes facts about different organisms that hibernate throughout the winter, including many that are not featured in the book.

This book would be great to share with elementary age children to introduce and expand on the idea of hibernation. I appreciate that the story answers questions that children may have about the changes in seasons. I also like all the factual information about hibernation, which could be used to encourage conversations between parents or teachers and children. The illustrations in the book make great use of color to show the change between seasons. Additionally, illustrations allow children to see how some of the organisms actually hibernate (underground, in trees, under the water).

I received a free copy of this title from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#WinterSleep #NetGalley

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is summer and a little boy is visiting his grandmother’s house. She knows all about nature and shares about the flowers, the pond, the birds, butterflies etc. as they walk to the clearing by the pond. It is a beautiful and peaceful place to be. When he goes back in the winter to visit, he wonders what has happened to everything. Is everything dead? His grandmother explains to him what different creatures do during the winter. She shows him locations of where they might be and how they protect themselves during the winter months.

I loved the illustrations in this book. The colours were varied with greens and bright colours for summer, followed by shades of white, brown, and grey for winter. The cutaways in the winter show where and how the animals hibernate. At the back of the book was more information about hibernation. I read this book with my grandchildren and I liked that there was something for children of various ages. My 3 year old granddaughter enjoyed the pictures and seeing the animals sleeping. My 6 year old grandson enjoyed learning about the hibernation facts that I read him at the back of the book. This is a wonderful book to use in primary classrooms when learning about the change of seasons, animal adaptations and the environment. I definitely recommend this one to schools and classrooms. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book upon request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

[Kylie2018 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was a nice simple introduction to hiberation which explains why it occurs but I really wish the author had researched and discussed more about how it happens or at least what humans know about how it happens (I find everyone loves to tell about frogs that stop breathing and freeze during winter but no one, myself include, bothers to find out how this is sustained or how this state is different to death, etc.).

I do love the arch of the story; following a child through his stays at grandma's house in summer and winter and I also like how the story shows how different types of animals hibernate (mammals, amphibians, minibeasts, etc.) I also love how more information about specific animals was included at the end of the story. I just wish it had facts other than the standard 'hibernation' facts most other children books already offer.

I loved the illustrations!!! and the text was as much as it needed to be, for it to be an enjoyable picture book. For me this book would have been a five if the text had a little bit more of a non-fiction vibe.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely story with beautiful illustrations, Winter Sleep is the story of a young boy staying at his grandmother’s house during the winter. When he was there in the summer, the animals and plants were thriving. Now, months later, he doesn’t see any of the vibrant life he saw before. Granny Sylvie explains life is simply different in the winter, because many animals hibernate. They talk about bats and bears, caves and tree trunks as she leads him through the forest. In the end, the boy falls asleep cuddled up warm in bed as Granny continues to tell him about hibernation. The story is nice but a bit outshone by the illustrations. The book is worth the illustrations alone—gorgeous depictions of trees, snow, and wildlife. There is an excellent section after the story which discusses how different animals hibernate, such as: polar bears, wood frogs, ladybugs, etc.

I received a free copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic picture book to introduce young readers to hibernation through a simple but effective story.
Told from the point of view of Sylvie's grandson, the book tells the story of how the change in seasons means 'the secret glade' near granny's house is completely changed and all the animals have disappeared. Granny Sylvie teaches the young boy, and the reader, all about how animals have gone into hibernation and what that means. Unseen by the narrator, the reader gets a glimpse of the animals hidden away under ground and under water through the clear illustrations, and is treated to information about a range of animals and their hibernation habits at the end of the book.

Thank you to the author and publishers for giving me access to an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – words & pictures for Winter Sleep A Hibernation Story by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss. A young child visits their Granny Sylvie in the summer and goes out exploring with her to see all the animals nearby. When the child returns in the winter, where have all the animals gone. Granny Sylvie teaches the young child all about hibernation of animals and insects including bats and bumblebees.

After the fictional story, there is a more scientific section discussing the hibernation routine for different mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds. There is also a section on how you can help hibernating animals with ideas like building a bat house. There is also a list of websites to find even more information. A cute story with lots of true information comes together for a great book.

[Cathy Geha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winter Sleep – A Hibernation Story
Written by Sean Taylor & Alex Morss
Illustrated by Cinyee Chin

Educational sweet beautifully told story of how animals seen in Summer hibernate in winter. Hibernation is explained by grandmother to grandchild in words easily understood. Many animals are mentioned in the story and this is added to in further pages once the story ends. There is also information related to how hibernating animals can be helped in various ways by humans who do not hibernate.

I believe this would be a good book to read to young children as it would educate and open up dialogue between adult and child.

Thank you to Net Galley and Quarto Publishing Group for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

[Laurie Hnatiuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A narrative story that follows a young boy with his grandmother exploring the creatures and the land in the summer. When he returns in the winter and asks to return he is disappointed thinking that there is nothing there. It is then that the grandmother reveals what happens in winter to all sorts of living things. Fans of Kate Messner's Over and Under the Snow will enjoy this version with additional information about different animal classes and how they can act as conservationists. The fact that Sean Taylor went beyond the traditional animals that hibernate (earwigs, bats, and fish) make this a strong addition to a collections. Illustrations are soft spoken and animals look peaceful as they hibernate which draws the readers in and set the tone for the book.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations accompany the story of a young boy who goes to visit his grandmother first in the summer, and then again in winter. In the summer they explore the nature all around them, noticing animals and ponds and plants and finding a hidden glen. When the boy returns in winter they look for all they saw in the summer and can't find it so Grandma explains (briefly) that lots of animals sleep during the winter. There's several nonfiction spreads at the end which describe hibernation in mammals, reptiles, etc. It's way too involved for a group read aloud and too long for the younger crowd. But, it makes a great one-on-one read with a kid who's really into animals or seasons or nature.

[Erin *BookDragon_Library* · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this is a multigenerational story about a boy and his grandma. This is a wonderful book illustrated with natural tones of blue, greens and browns. It starts with a summer scene grandma and boy exploring the woods and what animals live there. Then he goes back in winter and they take the same walk and talk about where all the animals go in the winter. There is a lot of information in the back about all kinds of animals and how they hibernate. It is broken down in to short little paragraphs about each animal so is manageable for kids.



Notes. Grandma and boy. Nature. Science. STEM. Animals. Winter. Hibernation. Factual back matter on animals and hibernation.

2019. Quarto Publishing

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik vond het verfrissend dat dit boek een verhalend deel en een feitelijk deel had. Het begint met het verhaal, over een oma die met haar kleinkind door de natuur loopt en vertelt over de verschillende dieren die winterslaap houden. De illustraties zijn echt prachtig en dus ook voor volwassenen leuk als je mooie tekeningen kan waarderen.
Na het verhaal zijn er nog wat kleine illustraties om extra informatie te geven over hoe verschillende soorten dieren op hun eigen manier een winterslaap houden. Hier vond ik het soms wel moeilijk om te zien welk stukje tekst bij welke illustratie hoorde. Dat had wat mij betreft wat duidelijker gemogen.
Op de laatste pagina staan een aantal tips om de dieren de winter door te helpen.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with beautiful pictures that tell the story of a hibernating forest. A little boy visits his grandmother in the summer, and they sit quietly in the woods observing all the life around them. But when he returns in the winter, it seems like there is no life, until Granny tells him about how all the animals are hibernating. From tiny mice to huge bears, fish and frogs in the pond to bugs in the ground. The story is just long enough to be informative, and there are a few pages of facts about hibernation and different kinds of animals at the end. The illustrations are sweet and lovely, detailed enough to be accurate but simple enough to be gentle and soft.
Really liked this one for older picture book readers.