By Betty Ren Wright and Ronald HimlerAfter Christmas, there is still a lot of winter left where we live. I try to embrace each season and enjoy it while it lasts. I find reading season-appropriate books with my children helps me remember to do that (and hopefully it will help them to form a similar attitude!). I enjoy this book because it begins with one of the downfalls of a snowy winter--Billy's December birthday party is interfered with by a snowstorm. His cousins can't come because of the bad weather. The storm turns to Billy's advantage, however, as the snow falls so thickly that all of the children in the one-room schoolhouse and their teacher are forced to spend the night at Billy's house. The weather is too bad for them to walk to their own homes which are further away. Billy's birthday is better even than he had hoped as his parents open their home and offer hospitality to the stranded students.
This is a cozy Little House on the Prairie-esque book to read on a stormy day. Himler's illustrations of falling snow are excellent (the rest are pretty mediocre, but they don't detract from the text) The story teaches kindness--Billy shares his birthday cookie with his friend--and hospitality--Billy's mom is not even a little bit annoyed to find her house full of kids, but sets about immediately making provisions for feeding and housing them all. The unexpected guests add to the family's enjoyment and content rather than seeming a burden and a stress, thus illustrating very well the paradox "whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake will find it."
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