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.

I adore stories that help children learn and this story does just that! A child goes to visit grandma at her wooded home and they get to experience the forest during summer, when all the flowers and plants are in bloom. When the animals fly and crawl about, but when they go again to the forest in the winter, it's a whole new world. A story teaching children about hibernation and in all honesty, it teaches me things too.
#Netgalley

Winter asleep sounds like a lovely story and from the illustrations I can see it looks beautiful but unfortunately I cannot see the pictures properly and there are no words and so it would be unfair of me to review the book when it has downloaded in a very unreadable way. I will be happy to rewrite the review if the book is fixed.

First thing- the illustrations in this book were amazing! I loved the story about the grandma and grandson exploring nature and spending time together. Had a great lesson about the changing of the seasons. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Disclaimer I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley.

3.5 stars
Grandparent stories are a sub genre of Children's books I find especially lovely. Grandparents have so much to pass down to their families and its always good to see that cherished and reflected in books for little readers. I like the mix of that special bond between a grandmother and grandchild with factual information about hibernation. I maybe wish for a stronger connection between child and grandma or background on their connection. Maybe I'm missing it because it is told from the perspective of the child.

Winter Sleep was a really cute book that my six year old loved. A boy visits his grandmother and as they walk through the forest, they talk about how it is alive with activity. So many animals and insects living their lives. He returns in the winter and the atmosphere has changed. Animals are hibernating and the forest has grown much quieter. Grandma shows him that while it may seem quiet, the animals and insects are all there, just waiting for spring to return. I really loved the section at the end of the book with information on the animals and their hibernating rituals.

This was such a cute read! Not only does it have a very loveable grandmother and grandson, it also has tons of great little tidbits. I loved how they both interacted with each other, the flow of the story, and all the animals we got to visit and learn about. My daughter had a fun time with this one as well, her only addition to this was more drawings and detail. But, only a little.

Everything else in this world was cozy and wintery. There definitely was much to learn about. And, what a nice adventure it was! The end of their outing was just as cute, with Granny Sylvie tucking in her grandson for the night. We see him get to have his own bit of hibernation. If that wasn't enough to make you pick up this book, there's also several informative pages in the end about hibernation and its process. Definitely one to pick up!

***I received this copy from words & pictures via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***

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.

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.

A beautiful book that tells the story of a child and grandparent exploring the natural world together. Fantastic illustrations, which have so much to look at and a very sweet little tale explaining hibernation. Then the added bonus of a factual section which gives the reader more information about hibernation and how to help. I loved this book and so did my class.

Either there are no words to this book or it downloaded incorrectly. Even without words, it provides an opportunity for children to look at the pictures and make up a story about them.


I received an ARC from Quarto Publishing through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book. I am voluntary submitting this review.

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.

The story is simple and the art is beautiful. The non-fiction parts at the end were very interesting but probably more geared to children a little older as they were a bit boring for my four year old. A very good book for any little animal lovers who wonder where everything goes in the winter time.

Winter Sleep is due to be released September 17, 2019. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

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

Wonderful illustrations and a sweet story! Granny teaches her grandchild about hibernation and winter. My 7-year-old little nature/scientist daughter loved it! I also appreciated the information about different animals at the end of the book. Highly recommended!

I received an electronic ARC from Quarto Publishing Group through NetGalley.
Informative text is shared through a story of a grandmother and grandson exploring nature in summer and winter. Taylor provides facts through dialogue and discussion between the two main characters. Grandmother explains where animals go when the weather turns cold and explains hibernation in simple to understand language.
An entire section of animal facts follows the story.
The illustrations are detailed and realistic. The background looks like a typical forest setting.

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.

Lovely illustrations and a gentle introduction to the concept of hibernation make this a great preschool read. I like the information in the back about the animals we encountered in the story. This would pair well with books like Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt or Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner or A Bear's Year by Kathy Duval.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book. I had to fiddle about with some of the app settings so that I could actually see it and the text still didn't display properly (it didn't display as part of the book and just sat below the images) but it is really lovely.

The story is very simple: a boy goes to stay with his granny and during walks together, she teaches him about the nature that they encounter. When the boy visits at another time in the year and finds everything has changed for winter, his granny tells him about hibernation and explains that the animals are still there, they just can't see them. The illustrations in this book are stunning and initially, before reading other reviews and altering the settings, I actually thought this was a wordless picture book and still loved it.

As if that all wasn't enough, at the end of the book, there is a non-fiction element, giving information about the different animals the boy and his granny had seen on their walks, followed by suggestions of how the reader could help the wildlife around them.

This book will appeal to so many children and staff at school and I can't wait to get hold of a hard copy.

This was a cute story and my daughter and I enjoyed it. I think its nice that it is entertaining as well as educational.