Is This…Winter?
by Helen Yoon; illus. by the author
Preschool    Candlewick    32 pp.
9/23    9781536226270    $10.99
e-book ed.  9781536234527    $10.99

A young puppy experiencing its first winter goes exploring. Its interactions are confusing: it greets a mailbox that doesn’t respond; it tries to play with a snowman but in its exuberance smashes it. “Hey, what happened? Where’d you—go…?” Then comes the most confusing encounter of all: a garish set of holiday yard decorations including lit-up reindeer, wind-sock puppets, the requisite (adorned) pink flamingo—and a giant blow-up Santa. Santa’s mechanical “Ho Ho Ho” bowls the pup over and sends it running back to its owner. “Winter is weird.” Yoon’s trademark energetic mixed-media art (see also Is This…Easter?) captures the puppy’s outgoing personality—and some of the silliness of over-the-top holiday displays.

From the November/December 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.