Winter Eyes: A Notable Collection of Illustrated Winter Poems for Children

by Douglas Florian

Snowballs, ice skating,sledding! Frozen toes, icy slush,runny nose. Well, winter's not all fun and games. But well-loved, best-selling poet Douglas Florian will melt your doubts about Mother Nature's chilly grip with twenty-eight winter-inspired poems accompanied by his crisp, trademark watercolor illustrations. Young readers are sure to warm up to the uniquely keen vision of this wholly original volume. Whatever the time of year, Winter Eyes is just right for the season. List of Notable Children's Books in Lang. Arts 00 (NCTE) and 00 Riverbank Review Magazine's Children's Books of Distinction Award Nominations

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

So with regard to the selection of twenty-eight winter themed poems Douglas Florian presents, his 1999 picture book Winter Eyes is in my humble opinion utterly delightful in and of itself, and as such, with Winter Eyes, Florian does not only show with his smorgasbord of varied and diverse verses a glowing and delightfully caressing poetic celebration of winter as the season of rest, of nature taking a necessary break, of increasingly chilly temperatures and delightful depictions of snow and icescapes, no, Douglas Florian also presents a select few poems in Winter Eyes that are not altogether positive concerning winter as a season, he also shows that not everyone automatically loves winter (which I most definitely do very much appreciate, as personally, while winter is defintely my absolute favourite season, and that I totally adore freezing temperatures and snow, snow and more snow, I do realise that far more people are probably not really fans of winter and that thus it is a very good thing that in Winter Eyes Douglas Florian's poems do not just celebrate winter, that there are also verses about what many individuals do not enjoy, what they hate about and concerning winter).

And furthermore, to and for me, with Winter Eyes Douglas Florian not only thematically shines with his snow and winter filled verses, but also and equally poetically and textually so, with Florian providing for his readers (both young and old) a diverse and successfully rendered variety of very many different poetic forms (from traditional rhymes to blank verse, lists and even some concrete poetry), and thus making Winter Eyes not just a lyrical celebration of winter but also a great introduction to poetry in general. Five stars for Douglas Florian’s presented winter themed poetry, but yes, my final rating for Winter Eyes will be four and not five stars, as personally, the accompanying artwork (while bright, cherry and thankfully also snow-filled enough) is just a bit too human being centred and often a bit naively unrealistic for me (and as such, while Douglas Florian’s poems in Winter Eyes work really, work exceedingly well on a textual, on a lyrical level, his accompanying illustrations really simply do not aesthetically cut it for me, neither as a visual mirror to and for the featured poetry nor even as a decorative trim, they are visually adequate perhaps, but certainly do not in any manner spectacular and glowing like Douglas Florian's poems for Winter Eyes are).

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't like winter, and am already, as we enter August, 'borrowing trouble' by fretting about it. I impulse-grabbed this from the library as bibliotherapy... and discovered a gem.

All you folks who think that you don't like poetry, or think that Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein are the only poets you need in your life, try this. Almost as easy and straightforward, but much richer. A perfect stepping stone to more glorious/difficult poetry, the kind with allusion and alliteration...

_*Icicles*_

Icicles are winter's fingers
That form where freezing water lingers.

Icicles are winter's arrows
Pointing out the crows and sparrows.

Icicles are dragon's teeth.
They don't grow up.
They drip beneath.


4.5 star rounded up because I do think everyone should read it if they get a chance. I am excited to find more by the author. ETA - I have read others... which I did not care for... I will get the two other 'seasonal' companion books to this and check them out, but I'm prepared to be disappointed by his inconsistency. Huh.

[Desi A · Rating 4 out of 5]

As part of our read aloud practice, I checked out a few poetry books from the library. JP really seemed to enjoy this book a lot and read about half of the poems to me (I read the other half to him). He made a good effort to get the rhythm and pacing as he read; I was really proud of him. (And since it is winter, the theme resonated as well.)

I don’t know why the idea popped into my mind, but a variety of children’s poetry collections is certainly something to consider with early readers.

[Julie G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has become my new favorite winter poetry collection for my kids. These are modern, original poems, not a compilation of classics.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful! A seasonal must read.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some fun poems for kids, especially the concrete poems. It can also be fun to do rhyming with children.

[Emily Goodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this to my preschool class and they thought all of the poems paired with movement were so fun!

[Rebeca Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poem collections offers an invitation to readers to experience winter in the use of sensory details and attitude of the winter ears, eyes, nose, and “winter feet." The length of the season of summer hums and spring speeds up, but " winter always takes its time.” This results in “Cabin Fever,” a poem that exhibits symptoms that are more adult than the attitudes and activities found in the majority of the poems. Winter-lovers and winter-haters alike will find poems in relation to their feelings, so in this collection that is perfect for reading alone by the fire, or a way to introduce winter to students.

In the use of this book, I would use this book in the sense of understanding the poetry through the seasons. The language and poetic devices used shows that the author's use of language has the meaning that surroundings the theme of winter in both in positive attitudes or that seen in negative. (ie. cabin fever or wet shoes) The illustrations are simple and pretty and have the wintery colors that are known throughout the story, but these watercolored illustrations has students connect the "winter feelings" in the book. I liked the book overall in the sense that these poems can be seen as relatable and entertaining to read. In my classroom, I would have this as a list of books to the introduction of poetic language and that anything can be made into poems.

[Christina/ The Blog for Teachers, Readers, & Life! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winter Eyes (ages 5-10) by Douglas Florian is a collection of winter poetry. The table of contents describes all the different aspects of winter in forty-eight selections. Douglas Florian not only wrote the poems but he also painted the pictures. I loved the way this book combined the beautiful paintings with rhythmic poetry. This is a must-read. My favorite poems were “Sled”, “Untitled”, and “Figure 8”. See my blog for other winter-themed children's books with curriculum activities for teachers Pr-K-5th grade. https://www.teacher-librarian-forlife...

[Erica Gilliam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry books are always enjoyable to read. The theme of this book was focused around the winter season. Winter Eyes by Douglas Florian captures the good, and bad of winter. It can bring heaps of snow for children to sled on, or it can bring a nasty cold to endure. Some of the poem’s text are written in shapes, making it amusing for the reader. There are 28 different poems throughout this book. Reading this book to students during the winter season gets them ready for Christmas and for some to see the little things they might enjoy about a cold winter.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a great variety about the winter season for children to learn from! The table of contents was a great way for students to find a poem about one aspect of winter. The poems within this book are short for children to understand yet can learn about this season. The artwork of this book as a variety of sizes of pictures, but it catches your eye as you read.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this on a friend's bookshelf and noted that she had two copies. She gave me one and I was going to put it in our neighborhood Little Free Library, but decided to read it first. It is delightful! The poems are easy to understand and some have a light touch of humor. The illustrations evoke the beauty of winter. I think it would be fun to read to children.

[Narcarsia Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that I can definitely see myself using in my classroom. I enjoyed all of the poems on winter and can see using this book and the others in the collection as a way to introduce not only poetry, but the different aspects of the four seasons.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

We loved this collection of winter poems, reading it over a few days during cozy moments like teatime. :-)

[Stasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is absolutely wonderful!!

[Rick Christiansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun intro to poetry with some delightful illustrations. Wpuld have liked more humor

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art gives the season real personality!

[Melissa Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Winter Eyes

Author/Illustrator: Douglas Florian

Genre: Poetry

Theme(s): Winter, Seasons

Opening line/sentence:
“Look at winter
With winter eyes,
As smoke curls from rooftops
To clear cobalt skies.”

Brief Book Summary:
This book is a collection of 28 poems that talk about wintertime. While all of the poems have something in common, each one addresses something different about wintertime, from what the season physically looks like, to the activities that people do during winter, to how the author himself feels about winter personally, etc. Florian relies heavily on the use of his five senses to create a collection of short, rhyming poems that are accompanied by fitting watercolor illustrations.

Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
Hazel Rochman (Booklist, November 1, 1999 (Vol. 96, No. 5))
Small, quiet poems and pictures capture how winter feels to a small child, especially the physicalness of it, from "sloppy slush" to "grumpy" sun, and the wind "that hustles rusty leaves along." The short rhyming lines are clear and will be easy to read aloud, and the softly toned watercolor-and-colored-pencil pictures show snowy winter scenes, some realistic, some playful. Opposite a poem about the amount of wool to wear in winter, there's a wry picture showing people turning into sheep. There are things people love about winter ("Snowball fights / Fireplace nights"), as well as things they hate ("Frozen toes / Running nose"), and children may want to add their own wintry images.

Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children s Books, November 1999 (Vol. 53, No. 3))
In twenty-eight crisp poems Florian urges readers to look at winter/ With winter eyes, appreciating the oft-derided season’s peculiar charms. While he’s not unsympathetic to the frustrations (What I Love about Winter is followed by What I Hate about Winter), he makes an excellent case for the pleasures in the sound of Winter Songs, the palette of Winter Hues, the coziness of Winter Inside, and the joys of Sugaring Time. The verses largely stick to reliable couplets and ABAB patterns as clean-edged and directive as a neatly shoveled walk, but Florian occasionally wends the text around the page for conceptual play (Sled tracks up and down a hill). Framed illustrations varying in size decorate the poetry; they keep winter involved as a pale reminder, but the images are touched with orange and blue, brown and peach and shot through with smudgy meandering lines (occasionally reminiscent of Patricia Polacco) that write character across the landscape. Whether as a read aloud or a read alone, this is a snowball youngsters won’t mind being hit with.

Response to Two Professional Reviews:
I support the praise each reviewer gives Winter Eyes. Florian captures the essence of winter wonderfully in both the text and the accompanying illustrations. Florian does a wonderful job of demonstrating how to think about a topic in many different ways, from the use of his five senses, to the presentation of his personal opinions and vivid descriptions. The beautiful watercolor illustrations offer the text great support, in addition.

Evaluation of Literary Elements:
The consistent A-B rhyming pattern Florian employs in each of his short, concise poems will appeal to young readers immensely. Florian’s use of repetition and short, to the point statements is purposefully implemented to help children develop fluency and an understanding of poetry as a genre. The majority of the text takes a long, rectangular and vertical shape but various poems are formatted to match the content of the poem, which readers will find extremely entertaining, i.e. to evoke images of falling snowflakes, circling ice skates, and the course a sled takes.

Consideration of Instructional Application:
This text is ideal for kindergarten or first graders. As a teacher, I would use Winter Eyes to introduce winter in a Science unit surrounding the four seasons. I could either read a new poem each day, or choose a specific poem to center an entire English Language Arts lesson around. For example, I could read “What I Love About Winter” and then have the Kindergarteners draw a picture illustrating their favorite activity or activities to partake in during the winter months. They could then write or dictate an explanation of the illustration. On another note, this text is also ideal to use when introducing poetry as a genre seeing as the poems are simple and all follow an almost identical pattern.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revisit again later

[Nicole Scheu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: This is a collection of poems about winter. There are twenty-eight winter poems with water colored illustrations. The poems cover a range of winter experiences from how you feel at the beginning of winter to the end, snowman, sledding, cabin fever, winter woods and lives, all that capture the feelings about winter.

Characteristics that support the genre: The poems in this book express feelings about winter. The structure of the lines of stanza features poems.

Writing mentor traits:
Voice-Each poem has a new feeling the author is portraying. Through the author's words, you can connect to the feeling or memorable moment yourself. For example, "Sledding," the author makes you feel like you are right there sledding.
Word Choice-Each poem has descriptive words that appeals to your senses. The adjectives and verbs create a vivd picture in your mind.
Sentence Fluency-The rhythms of the poetry helps you feel the message.
Presentation-Some of the poems are in different shapes on the page while others flow like a basic poem. The water colored illustrations capture the themes of the poems.

Integration into the classroom: I would use this book connecting to a unit on poems. The students can see a variety of poems and get a feel of what an author shows you in the features. You could have the students construct their own poems on how they feel about winter or an experience they had in winter.

Other suggestions: These poems would be great read alouds that you could examine every week in the winter. Perhaps Wednesdays are poem day and you read one each week. The grade level for understanding is grades 1-5.

[Patricia Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a cute book to use to read poetry to elementary kids because of the simple structure and meanings of the poems. It would be a fun way to introduce the winter season, and possibly get the kids excited about the holiday season in an educational way. The book is filled with multiple poems about winter having to deal with the senses, which allows for the children to easily relate to the poetry. Some of the poems are also formed into shapes that relate to what the poem is describing. For example, there is one poem that describes two snowflakes coming together and falling to the ground. The words are shaped in the form of a "Y" to show the descriptions on the page. It is like the words are also coming together and falling to the ground just like the snowflakes in the poem. Overall, the poems are short, sweet, and to the point. The images are also done in water color and color pencils, which gives the illustrations that wintery feel to them. However, the reason for giving this book three stars is because I do not like poetry myself. I also believed that some of the poems could have been more interesting or playful. Other than that, it had some very cute poems in it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book the other day and it immediately made me think of activities I did when I was learning about poetry. Florian writes this book with amazing language, using elements of personification on nearly every page. The illustrations are simple yet still very pretty, and even used to give life to specific words. For example, she writes "sled" while making it look like a little hill. The illustrations make her wonderfully written poems come to life on the pages, and make reading poetry easy and enjoyable for children. The language in this book does a fabulous job of being descriptive and uses words children hear often, so it is easy for them to relate to with their own feelings about winter.
This book would be good for grades 1-4, and would be amazing to use while teaching poetry. I would use this book and do the activity that I remember doing with winter/seasonal poems when I was younger, which was to choose your favorite, usually 2-5 lines, and write them on construction paper and decorate the page how you'd like so that it shows your interpretation of the excerpt of your choice.

[Elizabeth Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book of poerty about wintertime is great for elementary aged students. The poems are super simple and easy to understand. Most of them deal with senses; what they see, feel, hear. The simple way in which the author uses these sense is easy for a young child to relate to. Two poems that I found to be potentially useful in the classroom are "What I Love About Winter," and "What I Hate About Winter." In my classroom, I would have students write down what they like and dislike about the wintertime and then I would read them these two poems. Afterward, we would discuss how the author made a list of what the liked and disliked and made the words rhyme with each other. I would then have them try to make their list into some kind of poetry, probably by rhyming as well. This book is excellent for introducing basic poetry to young children. It will definitely be in my classroom!

[Lisa Rathbun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is awesome! I'd love to share this with a classroom in the wintertime. There are two fun shaped poems, one about sledding and one about snowflakes, and a cute very short concrete poem about ice skating. "Winter Time" sums up the seasons in a brief but effective poem. The metaphors in "Icicles" are memorable. I love how in "The Winter Tree" the tree dreams of animals, children, picnics, and "leaves and leaves and leaves and leaves." Every poem could be dissected for imagery, alliteration, metaphor, and personification, but I think children would best be served by just hearing and enjoying the wonderful words that make winter come alive!

[jennyreadit · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you like about winter? What do you NOt like about winter? This wonderful, descriptive book of poetry is centered just about winter. Florian's use of descriptive language and folksy paintings will appeal to all ages. The poem, What I Love About Winter, will be a great way to use author's craft-writing poetry is sometimes less intimidating for children than whole narratives.

~What I Love About Winter~
Frozen lakes
Hot pancakes
Lots of snow
Hot cocoa
Skates and skis
Evergreen trees
Funny hats
Thermostats
etc...

One I will read and reread to students.

[Kelly Thevenot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winter Eyes is an educational book that can be for all elementary students. It is a book of winter poems that uses senses. Feeling the chill of winter, seeing white, hearing wind, and it also teaches about the differece of hot and cold. Hot being summer and cold is winter. It is an informational book that can be used for teaching the season, while incorporating poetry. Also, it can be used when talking about senses.

[Yasmin Gomez Geng · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poems touching on every winter topic imaginable, this book brings the magic and frustrations of winter to life. From the fun of sledding, to the personification of snowmen, to the strangeness of the weather, these poems describe the activities available in the winter as well as describe the magic of sitting in front of the fireplace and of racing to go sledding.

Grade: 1st Grade to 3rd Grade
Topic: Snow, Winter, Seasons, Nature

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Small, quiet poems and pictures capture how winter feels to a small child, from "sloppy slush" to "grumpy" sun, and the wind "that hustles rusty leaves along." The short rhyming lines are clear and will be easy to read aloud, and the softly toned watercolor-and-colored-pencil pictures show snowy winter scenes, some realistic, some playful.

[Ellen Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite collection of winter poems. Before we read the poems "What I love about winter" and "What I hate about winter", I have students think of things that they associate with winter and sort these into two lists: good things and bad things.

[Mommywest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice descriptive poems and child-pleasing illustrations. Great for preschoolers and up. (My preschoolers actually loved this book. I think their favorite poem and illustration was the one about icicles. I won't spoil it--it's pretty fun.)