It is that time of year again in mid-Fall — time to get your kids excited for the upcoming ski season. One of the best ways to do this is to sneak in some ski-focused bedtime books for your budding skier. Here’s a list of books we’ve read with our kids (when they were 3-6) that stoked their excitement for skiing.
Snowshoe Thompson
Snowshoe Thompson is a book we have really enjoyed reading with our son and daughter. If you are living in California or Nevada, it has a lot of interesting historical tie-ins to gold rush history. Plus, this guy was incredible. He skied the mail over the Sierra in the mid1800’s on wooden skis he fashioned himself. Great book for stoking the skiing fires with your kids and talking through the importance of things like ‘wearing gloves’ and ‘protecting your eyes with goggles’ while skiing. Ages 3-5
Teach Your Giraffe To Ski
Teach Your Giraffe To Ski is a fun, light book (32 pages) that will get your child eager for skiing by following the misadventures of a giraffe learning to ski. Lots of great imagery in this book and lots of fun silliness. Plays best wit younger readers in the 3-4 year old range.
Ollie’s Ski Trip
Ollie’s Ski Trip is a book we have not read, but we have read other great books by the author, Elsa Beskow. Her books are a wonderful combination of nostalgia and beauty, accompanied by wonderful illustrations. From what I’ve read online, you should avoid the ‘mini’ versions of this book and get the full-size hard-cover version so you can see the intricacy of the illustrations well with your child. Seems to be another book that plays really well in the 3-4 year old range.
Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee
Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee hits a little older than the last 2 books, at ages 4-7. This is a great book to both read to kids, and then read alongside new readers. It is 36 pages, really silly, and touches on ski techniques that will be fun to discuss with your kids. It also gets great reviews from parents.
The Little Rippers
The Little Rippers book is one for the 5-8 year old in your life. You might read this 80-page book to them the first time, and then let them re-read it themselves. This is a pure skiing book — all about the main characters, two kids, solving mysteries while in their ski school class. The main characters have all the nervousness associated with skiing with new kids without their parents, which can be a really helpful topic to dive into from the safety of their bedroom.
Enjoy these recommendations. And, please share any additional book ideas below and I will incorporate them into this post. We love reading with our kids about the activities they enjoy, and are always on the lookout for new ideas!
Also, if you would like to learn about other kids gear for skiing, you can find more great posts here: Gear Recommendations
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