A 2026 CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL HOT OFF THE PRESS SELECTION
 

Tumble down the mountainside with woodland creatures in this wonderfully out-of-control celebration of winter.

A snowflake lands on a mountaintop. It flips and flops, tumbling down into the valley below. First it rolls over Field Mouse, then Rabbit. And that’s when things really begin to snowball.

With hilarious, brightly colored twists and turns from author Nicole Castrovinci and illustrator Vivian Mineker, Snowballed is a wonderfully out-of-control celebration of winter. Packed with adorable woodland creatures and winter activities, this picture book is a lesson in what happens when life runs you over and how you can bounce back with positivity.

Because when the snowball finally stops? It turns into a million snowflakes!

Field mouse decorates a tree.

She squints and says, “What’s that I see?”

Here comes snowflake. Rumble, rumble.

There goes field mouse. Tumble, tumble.
 

Nicole Castrovinci has been thinking up stories in her mind since she was very little. Now that she is slightly bigger, she writes them down. Castrovinci looks forward to snow all winter long. When she’s not sledding or hunting yetis, she can be found at her home in New Jersey with a book in her hand and a cat curled up on her lap. Vivian Mineker is a Taiwanese American illustrator from Taipei and Portland, Oregon, currently living in Slovenia. Her process usually starts with watercolor and colored pencils and finishes on the computer for fine details and adjustments.