February 05, 2026 By Maria
I love the snow. Not the inconvenience of it, but I love how the landscape looks covered in a blanket of white. I love how everything has an overall quiet and poetic stillness. When you wake up early in the morning just after a snow fall, it is especially silent; No one has started shoveling and carting out snow blowers. That stillness feels magical.
The previous weekend we had a snow storm. It was cold and frosty outside but definitely cozy and warm inside when we had tea and hot cocoa by the fire. I especially liked taking some time to read as I warmed up, my kids did too.
Unfortunately, our snow from the previous week seems to have become semi permanent. It has stayed cold enough to keep all the snow frozen for over a week now. It is not quite iced enough that you can walk on top of the snow, but it is frozen enough to make all the sidewalks that were not shoveled rather treacherous. This “forever” snow and low temperatures is making many people look forward to spring. I am okay, or at least somewhat okay with the current snow situation, but I do wish the sidewalks and roads were clearer.
The snow is beautiful to look at, much more lovely than when winter is bleak, chilly and miserable. Unfortunately, winter is not always a snowy beauty. Often it’s just cold and frosty with ice to scrape off the windshield and “kidcicles” shivering in the back of the car on the way to school. The worst thing for me is rain when it’s cold. That just chills you to your bones. When winter is like this I try to remind myself that there is still beauty in it and one book that especially helps me do that is Winter Poems selected by Barbara Rogasky and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. The poetry and the art in this book always make winter better for me.
I used to love flipping through poetry books as a kid. (Actually I still do, but now I don’t always take the time to sit down with a poetry book). I would read my favorite poems over and over or even try to memorize a few. I was successful or partially successful with some. I also always loved the art in poetry books. They had the most beautiful or interesting illustrations, even when it was just a small drawing in pen and ink that would catch my attention and imagination. I also loved reading fairytale books (sometimes just for the art). I had a few illustrators I particularly liked including Trina Schart Hyman.
I was so happy to find her book of illustrated winter poems in the library many years ago. My mom and I both loved to read it and now we both have our own copies. Last year when I was homeschooling, my daughter and I read through this book as part of our literature program and followed it up with another beautifully illustrated book of Robert Frost’s poems. Winter Poems has a little of everything in it from Shakespeare to Ogden Nash. The poetry collected in the book ranges from sublime to wistful to silly. I love reading the poems and especially looking at Hymen’s illustrations. I also love how Hyman used family and friends for models in her illustrations, including her grown daughter and biracial grandchild. The book feels like a lot of love was put into making it. That love seeps out to the readers. It feels like we become part of this close knit world of winter and quiet peace. Reading this book of poems feels like a warm cozy blanket wrapped around my shoulders.
After all the snow, and frigid walks I have gone on with our dog, I would not mind spending the rest of winter wrapped in a cozy blanket. I love warm and cozy stories in winter. They warm me right up, but I also delight in the ones set in winter. They help me find beauty in the cold. What books or poems help you get through the winter chill?
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