It's winter and the perfect time to warm up with a good book!

  Try a pairing of something old with something new. Harold and the Purple Crayon meets his 21st-century doppelganger in The Line by Paula Bossio. Follow a little girl on an adventure of the imagination as a simple line transforms into a slide, bubbles and so much more. Read this newbie and then the Crockett Johnson classic. Add pencil and paper and you have a recipe for a fun afternoon.

   In The Invisible Boy, a picture book takes on a subject faced by all of us at one time or another....feeling left out. Author Trudy Ludwig introduces readers to Brian, a little boy who is last to be picked, sits alone at lunch and waits to be included in anything. A new student in class changes Brian's gray days to full color as he and others see what a great guy he is. This is a wonderful story to share with your child. It encourages discussion of feelings, compassion and friendship.

   The characters in Ant and Honey Bee: A Pair of Friends in Winter demonstrate how true friendship can transform the loneliness of hibernation into a winter sleepover. In this JE book, Megan McDonald, the creator of Judy Moody, brings two insects to life as they discover a friendship doesn't need to be put on hold just because it's winter. These friends work together and warm up a chilly season.

   Junior Fiction offers a joyous read in Cynthia KaDohata's, The Thing About Luck. In this coming-of-age story, Summer and her brother Jaz must spend the harvest season with their grandparents when their parents must return to Japan for an emergency. Summer struggles to understand her friendless brother, what the adults in her life expect from her, and the feelings of first love. When her grandfather suggests she read the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Summer questions her own feelings:

"The book made me think about what was deep inside of me. Was I good or bad or mixed or what? And was the way I acted every day the real me, or was the real me somewhere so deep that I would never even know it?"

  This is a beautiful read about growing up while learning about where we fit in the world around us.