Two raccoons go out into the snow, and the whole winter forest is awake around them. Birds calling from bare branches, an owl somewhere overhead, deer stepping through drifts. Nothing dramatic happens, which is right: this is a book about noticing, and noticing is a skill a toddler is actively building.

Every spread carries a lift-a-flap, and some of them open into a sturdy board pop-up that stands up off the page. That single mechanical trick does more for repeat readings than any amount of plot, because a small child will check every flap again just in case one of them still surprises them.

Ten thick pages at seven inches square, an inch thick with the pop-ups folded in. Written by Rusty Finch, illustrated by Katya Longhi, graded from 18 months, and an easy December gift that is about winter rather than about Christmas.

If the season is the draw rather than the flaps, Barn in Winter: Safe and Warm on the Farm takes the same winter onto the farm in rhyming verse, on 8 inch padded board pages.