Booklist: Hygge Edition!

From a slight chill in the morning air to frigid overnight temperatures, the changing of the seasons is upon us. Winter is just around the corner and the early dusk has us looking forward to cozy evenings curled up on the couch with our families. In recent years, the Danish concept of hygge have become rather trendy, and for good reason. Hygge is about shutting out the coldness of the world and making time to connect with the people we love. It’s about cultivating a feeling a coziness and hominess. To learn more about hygge, click here and hereto read two great articles. 

Reading is one of the main components of hygge, so it’s important to remember that any book will do the trick! We thought it might be fun, however, to curate a list of extra cozy books that you can enjoy while snuggled up next to your children. We hope you enjoy them!

Who am I? Snowy Animals by Dorling Kindersley Publishers

This board book introduces different animals through sweet interactive activities. Your child can peak through the holes in the page to guess the animal, then turn the page to see the animal in its habitat. The subsequent invitation to “pretend to be me” is perfect for days indoors when children need to move their bodies. They get to be a seal, a snow goose, a Siberian tiger, and more!

Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendack

This classic has a poem for each month of the year, and describes what the main character will be doing, along with how they will be enjoying chicken soup with rice along the way. Get a pot of soup on the stove and giggle along! The November page: 

In November’s

gusty gale

I will flop

my flippy tail

and spout hot soup.

I’ll be a whale!

Spouting once

spouting twice

spouting chicken soup

with rice.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr

Spending one-on-one time with a parent is a special experience for a child, and Owl Moon captures that wonder and magic so well. A daughter and her father go owling one snowy night, and Jane Yolen shares the honor of this rite-of-passage experience in prose that may as well be poetry. This is a perfect read-aloud book to share on the couch, under a cozy blanket, with moonlight peaking through the window.

Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney

A family who live by and rely on the seasons takes us through a year in their life. The story begins with the father loading up an ox-cart with the goods the family has gathered and made throughout the previous year: wool from their sheep, potatoes and cabbages from their garden, knitted mittens, handmade brooms and shingles, and much more. He drives the cart to the market and sells it all, including the cart and the ox. After a quick stop to purchase a few items, he walks home, and the family enters another year together, working with the land.

Stone Soup by John J. Muth

We all know this classic tale, and celebrated author John J. Muth brings his own flair to its retelling. Three monks enter a village in which the people are cold and isolated. They close their doors to one another, and there is hardly a sense of community. One small child breaks the silence as the monks begin to prepare their stone soup, igniting a chain reaction of curious, and then generous, neighbors.