Review - The Twelve Days of Winter

The Twelve Days of Winter
by Deborah Lee Rose
illustrated by Carey F. Armstrong-Ellis
Date: 2006
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

A counting book that highlights the wonders of winter

It’s wintertime! The time for snow, mittens, and 12 days of surprises. In this high-energy, curious classroom, the teacher introduces her students to a new winter activity every day—from making paper snowflakes, to building sugar cube igloos, to playing with jingling bells. As the days get colder and the gifts add up, the classroom is transformed into wintery chaos. Inspired by the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” this book uses accumulative verse as readers count to 12 along with the class and explore the funny, intricate illustrations. It includes a punch-out snowman paper doll that young readers can dress up and use to decorate their own winter wonderland!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I've yet to see this song turned into a picture book really well. This version is no exception. It tries... but it doesn't quite get there.

The illustrations are sort of fun to look at, because there are details that continue throughout the book. But I don't particularly like the style. Some of the children look like little seniors, and I was taken aback near the beginning when I saw what looked like an old man picking his nose:

This creepy little fellow (he's one of the young students, if you can believe it) actually appears on every single spread, with his finger in his nose. Kids might find it funny, and I was mildly amused when I realized that he was a repeating motif... but it does get old pretty fast.

Most of the objects in the song are of a winter theme, but they're not that interesting. Teddy bears, weather words, gold stars, bells, worms, and sugar cubes all make an appearance, but without the illustrations, they're really quite boring. This is definitely a book that needs to be read in close proximity to a child so they can clearly see all the pictures.

Overall, I wasn't that impressed. Kids might like the nose-picker, but other than that, The Twelve Days of Winter doesn't really bring anything new to the old song.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.43 out of 5