The Twelve Days of Winter: A School Counting Book

You can't help but smile when reading, The Twelve Days of Winter by Deborah Lee Rose. The illustrations are adorable and if you have a student in elementary school or if you are or were a teacher yourself you may find yourself laughing as you read along. The story starts out with the words, "On the first day of winter, my teacher gave to me...a bird feeder in a snowy tree." The illustrations compliment the text and tell a side story of their own. You see a teacher dealing with getting her class ready to go outside. As an educator myself, I relate to the teacher in the story trying her best to help the little ones get on coats and gloves. Outside they ho to fill the bird feeder and you see the kids making snow angels, throwing snowballs, and more winter fun happenings. That description just describes the first four pages! The rest of the pages add more counting fun in the classroom. As the winter days go on and the teacher continues giving... the chaos in the classroom gets greater. The teacher is obviously flustered by the end of the story and ready for winter break and also very deserving of the break. My three year old and seven year old enjoyed this story very much. It was fun counting the objects in the story with them. My three year old love pointing out what was going on in each picture. The text was simple enough for a second grader to read independently. This lovely story would be the perfect gift for a kindergarten through third grade teacher to share with her class. Also, I suggest you wrap it up and ties a bow around it and give it to your favorite teacher as a Holiday treat! You may wish to tie a tag on it that says, "I am sure you have had your share of The Twelve Days of Winter like the teacher in this story! Thanks for being a fun teacher. Have a well deserved winter break."

What a fun book! I found this at the library and read it to my 4-year-old son. We enjoyed it so much, we're buying a copy. This book is good for pre- and early readers for several reasons. Like the Christmas song that inspired the text, The Twelve Days of Winter teaches counting and memory skills. In addition, its setting in an elementary classroom during the winter can prompt discussions about school, teachers, friends, seasons in general, and winter in particular. My favorite aspect of this book (and my son's, too) is the unique depiction of each child in the fictional classroom. One girl clings to the teacher throughout the book, another wears princess dresses and period costumes, a pair of boys are always roughhousing, and another boy has his finger in his nose on every page. Pay close attention to the illustrations, and you can even help your child identify the story's narrator.