Book Review: Hiders Seekers Finders Keepers

After I wrote the other day all about hibernating animals, I came across another book that would be fun for a unit study on hibernation or animals in the winter.

Hiders Seekers Finders Keepers: How Animals Adapt in Winter by Jessica Kulekjian and Salini Perera shows different animals getting ready for winter. The hiders are animals like turtles, frogs, bees, chipmunks, bears, snakes and bugs, and the book shows all of them in the places and ways they like to spend wither, with a couple of sentences about each. For example we learn that carpenter ants make a substance called glycerol, which helps prevent them from freezanimals like squirrels that hide a future feast, or foxes who grow a warmer coat for winter.

The book includes lovely illustrations that show a dad anding.

Meanwhile the seekers like geese, elk and mule deer move around to find a better place to spend the winter. Of course butterflies and lots of other birds and insects do this, too. Keepers are daughter walking through the winter forest. In the end they find rabbit tracks, and there’s a guide to different animal tracks in the snow in the back of the book. There are also resources for further reading, documentaries to watch and websites to visit to learn more about the different animals featured in the book and how they get through the winter.

There is a lot of detail in the illustrations that can keep you talking beyond the facts on the page. Kids will have fun noticing animals that are hiding and what’s going on in the background of drawings.

This book is pretty, short but full of facts that will interest the animal lovers in your classroom or home and shows many different ways that animals can prepare for winter.

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover. Published 2022 by Kids Can Press, suggested retail price $19.99

[Photo: Kids Can Press]

Explaining Dia de Los Muertos to kids can be difficult because most of us don’t generally talk about death or what happens when we die a lot with our kids. But Dia de los Muertos is actually a happy, not scary occasion that allows us to remember loved ones, share stories and come together as a community.

While it is mostly celebrated by people of Mexican heritage, the day has become more well known thanks to movies and other media representations. And there are some great children’s books to help explain and allow you to celebrate the holiday if you want.

Dia de Muertos by Jaque Jours, illustrated by Alejandra Ruiz (48 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by words & pictures, suggested retail price $14.99) tells the story of a family getting their ofrenda (altar for the dead) ready and how they remember people who have died through decorations, food and sharing stories.

It covers the classic decorations and rituals of Dia de los Muertos including using cempasúchil (in English we call them marigolds) and papel picado (cut paper banners), pan de muerto and la catrina, the elaborately dressed, skull faced women that are a common site at Dia de los Muertos gatherings.

The back of the book explores how the day is celebrated throughout Mexico as well as the meanings of different symbols. There’s a recipe for pan de muerto, a tutorial for making papel picado and tips for doing makeup to look like like la catrina/el catrin.

Want to try more traditional foods? The Dia de Los Muertos Cookbook is a companion to The Dia de Los Muertos Story, both of which are by Andrea Jáuregui de la Torre and illustrated by Laura González (52 pages, hardcover paper over boards, published 2026 by becker & meyer kids!, suggested retail price $19.99).

The book opens with some discussion of the meaning of Dia de los Muertos and why food is an important part of the day. The recipes included are easy enough for kids to make with minimal help, and all based on food memories from her childhood.

There are recipes for hibiscus iced tea, Mexican corn and salsa, tortillas, molletes (open faced sandwiches with beans and cheese), jicama fries and sugar skulls to name a few.

Other activities in the book include papel picado, coffee filter marigolds, making your own playlist and making an ofrenda.

Together these books give young readers insight into this holiday that might be new or confusing to them, while also giving you a chance to get in the kitchen together and make your own Dia de los Muertos memories.

Have you read?

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