Climate change or not, winter will arrive on time this year, along with its particular sorrows (like getting cold) and joys (like warming up again). This month, we consider three books for the season.
“Extra Yarn” by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen, answers the immortal question: After you ve knit yourself a sweater and the dog a sweater and even your best friend a sweater — what do you do with extra yarn?
The picturebook palette has lately undergone a revolution with the result that tasteful, interior-design colors like mahogany, beige and gray-green rule. Klassen used this palette brilliantly in last year’s “I Want My Hat Back,” and here it creates an appropriately somber winter world wherein hero Annabelle finds a box of yarn and knits herself a sweater.
Color-wise, the yarn is more autumn-leaf than day-glo, but it’s bright enough that Annabelle s teacher remonstrates: “... that sweater of yours is a terrible distraction!”
 Annabelle, who knits to her own drummer, is not bothered and knits on — making sweaters for everyone in town except Mr. Crabtree, who “never wore sweaters or long pants and would stand in his shorts with the snow up to his knees.”
Mr. Crabtree gets a hat instead.
Still the box yields yarn, so Annabelle knits sweaters for things that don’t wear sweaters, like houses. Eventually, an evil archduke learns of Annabelle’s bottomless box of yarn and wants it for himself, and when he doesn’t get it curses Annabelle with the family curse!
To me, that last part seemed a little overwrought, but overall I loved the book. It is wholly original while at the same time calling to mind the stories of both Hanukkah and the loaves and fishes. Also, at root, it s the tale of how a dauntless child’s generosity and industry transforms a gloomy town into a warm, fuzzy and colorful one.
Illustrator Christopher Silas Neal likewise uses the interior-design palette effectively for “Over and Under the Snow,” written by Kate Messner. A little girl goes cross-country skiing with her dad in the woods. When they see a red squirrel slip into a crack in the snow, he explains that “under the snow is a whole secret kingdom where the smallest forest animals stay safe and warm.”
There are other books about how animals get through the winter, but this one sings with Messner s lovely prose: “Under the snow, a black bear snores, still full of October blueberries and trout ... Under the snow a queen bumblebee drowses away December all alone.”
The words and illustration together emphasize the sensory experience of winter in the woods. At the conclusion of their ski, dad and daughter meet mom for a campfire supper and: “Over the snow, the fire crackles and sparks shoot up to the stars. I lick sticky marshmallow from my lips and lean back with heavy eyes.”
Finally, when you just can’t stand another tasteful, hip illustration dominated by winter-white, turn to Eileen Spinelli’s “Cold Snap,” illustrated in bold, brilliant color by Marjorie Priceman.
“Cold Snap” is the Russian novel style of picturebook in that it encompasses a whole world. In the town of Toby Mills, the thermometer plunges, and at first the inhabitants rejoice.
Millie Moffatt makes snow angels. Her brother throws snowballs at the statue of General Toby. The Sullivan sisters knit mittens.
After a while, though, the cold gets tiresome. Pastor Pickthorn is even forced to preach wearing earmuffs and an overcoat.
Priceman packs plenty of action into her illustrations, giving you and your listener a lot to look at. In the end, the mayor — who has been besieged with phone calls of complaint — devises a means of reminding his constituents that one way to warm up is to join together.
Martha Freeman is the author of 20 books for young people, including  Who is
Stealing the Twelve Days of Christmas?  She lives in State College.

“Extra Yarn” by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen. A charming picturebook that evokes classic stories and answers the question: After you’ve knit yourself a sweater and the dog a sweater and even your best friend a sweater — what do you do with extra yarn?

“Over and Under the Snow” by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal. A little girl cross-country skiing with her dad learns where the animals go in winter. This elegant book rings with beautiful prose. Good for bedtime.

“Cold Snap” by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. This is a bold, colorful, old-fashioned looking picturebook that tells the story of a town when the thermometer plunges. The action-packed pictures are a ton of fun.