Bright Winter Night

BRIGHT WINTER NIGHT is a sweet, rhyming picture book read about the magic of winter and teamwork. The animals are all gathering together in winter for a special task. Each animal has their role to play as they work together to build a sleigh. They then travel on it to a special place where they can view the Northern Lights and fall asleep in the peace of the night.

What I loved: The rhyming text was really lovely to read aloud and to hear, carried throughout the story. The illustrations are quite unique, fully capturing the forest, the snow, and the animals on each page. The magic of winter and importance of teamwork come across as the animals work together on this important task of creating a sleigh and getting to where they can all view the Northern Lights. The soft colors and rhyming text make this a great choice for a bedtime book that will lull readers to sleep at the end of a busy day.

What left me wanting more: As a small thing, some of the phrases are a bit stilted and can feel like they change the rhythm of the story to fit in a particular sentence. It is also not clear why the animals come together for this or why they have to build the sleigh, but some children will not mind enjoying the whimsy of the story without explanations.

Final verdict: BRIGHT WINTER NIGHT is a lovely, rhyming picture book about teamwork and the beauty of winter that will work well for bedtime.