All Around Bustletown: Winter

Winter has arrived and everywhere you look people are embracing the season. At home there’s baking, reading, and sleeping in, while on the farm the fields are fallow and quiet. Outside people are bundled up against the cold as they are skating, sledding, and running to catch a crowded bus. The town’s buildings are alive with activity—piano lessons, a dentist appointment, shopping for presents, and visiting the museum. And if you look closer, you’ll recognize the same characters on page after page, each with their own story. Wilfred the jogger has lost his keys, and Erica is shopping for a Christmas tree. Each minutely detailed scene is bursting with different people, such as a cheerful lady with an umbrella, and a young violinist, as well as animals and birds. In the tradition of Richard Scarry and Where’s Waldo, this book encourages kids to return again and again to these charming spreads, following along with the characters and inventing their own stories. They’ll recognize parts of their own world, while also learning about the endless ways we live, work, and play in the winter.

"What is it about cross-section illustrations — the kind where you can see everything going on inside a house, upstairs and down, all at once — that makes them so mesmerizing? Berner, one of Germany’s best-known children’s authors and illustrators, excels at these fascinating dollhouse-type scenes, a staple of the German genre known as Wimmelbooks. Hers are jam-packed with old and young characters engaged in prosaic, silly or mysterious activities that young readers can spend hours poring over...Parents and grandparents may be especially susceptible to this giant board book’s old-fashioned charms." —The New York Times“In spite of this book’s thick, board book-like pages, I’m inclined to put this in the picture book section due to its size and contents. And what wonderful contents they are, too! This little German import follows in the step of Anno, as you drive by a variety of different winter scenes. Now in the past this book would have cause me a small headache. Why? Because those Europeans, lord love ‘em, are crap at multiculturalism. Not Berner! Somehow she got the memo and so this book is more than just a sea of samey same same white faces. Amazing how that contributes to the joy of picking out all the details and repeating characters. A seek-and-find book for the 21st century.” —School Library Journal“This large-scale board book is a great way for kids to lose hours, without a single screen in sight. It’s the “Where’s Waldo” of pretty much every detail of a town and its buildings, with gathering snowflakes falling from flurries to groundcover throughout. Find something new with each look at the pages.” —Upstate Parent

ROTRAUT SUSANNE BERNER is one of Germany's most loved children's authors and has earned a worldwide audience with her popular In the Town All Year 'Round series. She is a multi-time finalist for the Hans Christian Anderson award, which she won in 2016. She lives in Munich, Germany.