Is This . . . Winter?

What’s with all the blinking lights? With her trademark visual humor and comic timing, Helen Yoon takes a look at some odd winter traditions.

High five! It’s winter! For one spirited little puppy, winter means romping in the snow, birds to chase, fragrant evergreen trees, and joy, joy, joy! Then again, winter also means . . . oddly unfriendly deer? Millions of little lights? Contorting inflatable snowmen? Wait, what? If this is all winter too, then winter is kind of . . . weird! Helen Yoon’s fresh and hilarious take on the winter season—part of a quirky new series of picture books—is a blend of bumbling affection and slack-jawed wonder.Throughout this exuberant kickoff to the Is This...? series, Yoon portrays an amusing dog’s-eye view of Christmas season novelties—yard ornaments. . . . Employing mixed-media techniques and comic perspectives, Yoon presents the wide-eyed subject’s boisterous personality with confident sketches that capture the small dog’s outsize holiday energy.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Using mixed media art, Yoon takes simple text and creates a cute story about the oddities of winter through the eyes of a puppy. Comical. . . Illustrations of the recognizable winter decorations, combined with the cute brown puppy and surrounded by white space, gives a seasonal feel without being overwhelming. Short sentences are good for the young audience, and especially for reading aloud. . . A cute story about discovering a new season.
—School Library Journal

Yoon’s trademark energetic mixed-media art (see also Is This…Easter?) captures the puppy’s outgoing personality—and some of the silliness of over-the-top holiday displays.
—The Horn BookHelen Yoon is . . . very funny and very sharp. The author-illustrator of Sheepish (Wolf Under Cover), her critically acclaimed debut picture book, as well as Off-Limits and I’m a Unicorn, she is a professional illustrator and freelance concept designer. Helen Yoon lives in the Los Angeles area.