Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here [Hardcover]

Jean Craighead George (Author), Loretta Krupinski (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

From a letter written by her grandmother, Rebecca learns that winter began on June 21, while she was cooling off under the hose. The northern half of the Earth began to grow cold, and the days grew shorter. The birds began to fly to the sunny underside of the Earth, and the groundhogs and bears went to sleep. But on December 22, summer will begin. Before long, Rebecca will take off her shoes and jump over bluebells.

1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On the shortest day of the year, a grandmother writes to her granddaughter that winter has arrived, "brought by little hands of darkness." With the delivery of a startling fact, "On June 21, while you were cooling off under the hose, winter began," Newbery Medalist George's ( Julie of the Wolves ) poetic text slips into an account of the natural and human events that mark winter's deliberate approach ("I turn on my lights. You put on your mittens. . . The squirrels insulate their homes"). The letter ends with the heartening realization that the tide of light turns and, on this darkest of days, summer actually begins. Rendered in soft opaque watercolors and pencils, Krupinski's subjects--a bathrobed grandmother writing at the kitchen table where her kitten laps milk from a saucer, a bear snuggling into his winter lair, sunflowers bowing with the weight of ripened seeds--induce a warm, somniferous affection for winter. An introductory note explains solstices and equinoxes in language appropriate to readers at the upper end of the targeted range. A lovely presentation of a concept worthy of early learning--the rhythm and influence of light on earth. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-"Winter is here. It was brought by little hands of darkness. Each little hand is a few minutes long." Thus a woman begins to explain the solstice to her young granddaughter. In spare prose, George details all the wonders that the season brings. The simplicity of her writing belies the wealth of information that the narrative contains. However, her metaphor of "little hands" that bring on winter may need some adult interpretation. Krupinski's stunning, opaque gouache, watercolor, and colored-pencil art covers three-quarters of each double-page spread. Wispy, soft textures and deep colors aptly capture the stillness of the snow and the cold air. Whether marching with Canada geese, sitting on a barren tree branch next to a squirrel's nest, howling with wolves on the hillside, diving down a snowbank with an otter, or making snow angels, the art places readers inside each scene. An author's note about the solstice precedes the text. Other choices might be Nancy White Carlstrom's Goodbye Geese (Philomel, 1991) or Ann Schweninger's Wintertime (Viking, 1990), but this effort from a versatile author and a talented illustrator is a whole-language beauty.
Dot Minzer, North Barrington School, Barrington, IL
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (September 30, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060211393
• ISBN-13: 978-0060211394
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,438,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jean Craighead George was born in a family of naturalists. Her father, mother, brothers, aunts and uncles were students of nature. On weekends they camped in the woods near their Washington, D.C. home, climbed trees to study owls, gathered edible plants and made fish hooks from twigs. Her first pet was a turkey vulture. In third grade she began writing and hasn't stopped yet. She has written over 100 books.Her book, Julie of the Wolves won the prestigious Newbery Medal, the American Library Association's award for the most distinguished contribution to literature for children, l973. My Side of the Mountain, the story of a boy and a falcon surviving on a mountain together, was a 1960 Newbery Honor Book. She has also received 20 other awards.She attended Penn State University graduating with a degree in Science and Literature. In the 1940s she was a reporter for The Washington Post and a member of the White House Press Corps. After her children were born she returned to her love of nature and brought owls, robins, mink, sea gulls, tarantulas - 173 wild animals into their home and backyard. These became characters in her books and, although always free to go, they would stay with the family until the sun changed their behavior and they migrated or went off to seek partners of their own kind.When her children, Twig, Craig and Luke, were old enough to carry their own backpacks, they all went to the animals. They climbed mountains, canoed rivers, hiked deserts. Her children learned about nature and Jean came home and to write books. Craig and Luke are now environmental scientists and Twig writes children's books, too.One summer Jean learned that the wolves were friendly, lived in a well-run society and communicated with each other in wolf talk -- sound, sight, posture, scent and coloration. Excited to learn more, she took Luke and went to the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory in Barrow, Alaska, where scientists were studying this remarkable animal. She even talked to the wolves in their own language. With that Julie of the Wolves was born. A little girl walking on the vast lonesome tundra outside Barrow, and a magnificent alpha male wolf, leader of a pack in Denali National Park were the inspiration for the characters in the book. Years later, after many requests from her readers, she wrote the sequels, Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack.She is still traveling and coming home to write. In the last decade she has added two beautiful new dimensions to her words beautiful full-color picture book art by Wendell Minor and others and - music. Jean is collaborating with award-winning composer, Chris Kubie to bring the sounds of nature to her words.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here, December 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here (Hardcover)

This book is about the Summer Solstice being the beginning of "winter" and the Winter Solstice being the turning point for longer days and eventually summer. It is a scicence picture book and I recommended it for students in the 2nd and 3rd grades.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gentle look at the interwoven threads of changing seasons., November 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here (Paperback)

I found this beautifully illustrated book to be a gentle reminder of the circular nature of our changing seasons. It is quite useful as a classroom resource for tying letter writing to science. Even first grade readers were appreciative of the of the text when read aloud.

5.0 out of 5 stars Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here, July 12, 2007

By 

S. Hutchinson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here (School & Library Binding)

This is an exceptional book. I purchased the copy that I ordered from Amazon for my childs Kindergarten teacher. I have had a copy of this book since 1993, when I purchased it for my daughter whom is a winter solstice baby. The story gave me a new light on looking at the winter solstice not only as the shortest day of the year but also the beginning of spring as each day after the solstice grows longer. It is written with nature in mind and a joy to read each year on the winter solstice.