Snow Play by Birgitta Ralston If you’ve never lost your child’s love of snow, but want something new to do, take a look at this book. Alternatively, if you have kids bringing you your coat and forcing you to go out in the cold, here’s a book to get you excited about it. This is a book of snow creations for adults, or adults and kids, with a few projects suitable for younger children by themselves. After detailed general instructions, including explanations of tools used and the difficulty and time to complete ratings, the book dives into projects. There are fresh takes on classics, like mutant snowmen or snow bunnies. There are giant, all-day projects, like a life-size Loch Ness monster and a fire pit with a circular surrounding bench. There are tiny projects, like little free-standing animals on straw legs or ice ornaments. And my favorites, the glowing ones – including a birthday cake and a lantern made of snow balls, lit with real candles or LEDs. All of the projects have gorgeous full-color photos of the finished product as well as step-by-step illustrations. The most commonly used tools are buckets, shovels, and snow block molds. Projects range from half an hour to a day in length, with most rated at half a day. Most of the projects also seem geared towards adults working with school-aged children or older kids and teens, though there are some suitable for young children as well. I asked for this book sight unseen, a rarity for me, and am now super excited to go out and play in the snow.

Crossposted to http://sapphireone.livejournal.com and http://library-mama.dreamwidth.org .

It might be verging on the wrong time of year for this, but I want to remember it for next year. Lucia is mostly remembered in America when it comes time for students to do their reports on Christmas in other countries. But in Sweden, Swedish friends have told me, Lucia is a huge and secular holiday. Lucia may be officially a Christian saint, but in Sweden she simply brings the light, no small thing in the dark of the year in a far north country. In this tradition comes this book.

Lucia and the Light by Phyllis Root. Illustrated by Mary Granpre Root (Big Mama Makes the World) and Granpre (illustrator of the Harry Potter series) bring us the story of Lucia. Lucia lives with her mother and baby brother on the side of a mountain in the far north. Long ago, there were tales of trolls up in the mountain, but no one is really sure they believe these any more. It’s an ordinary cold winter, until one day, the sun doesn’t come back. The cow’s milk dries up, the baby won’t stop crying, and they are running out of food. Lucia decides to climb to the top of the mountain to see if she can find the sun. Together with her milk-white cat, Lucia battles cold, dark, and yes, trolls, to bring back the sun. It’s a fine new story for Lucia with luminous pictures, perfect for the dark of winter.