Winter’s Gifts: An Indigenous Celebration of Nature

Winter invites us to slow down, look closely, and recognize the gifts that can be found in a quieter season.

Winter’s Gifts: An Indigenous Celebration of Nature by Kaitlin B. Curtice follows Dani, a young Potawatomi girl whose family finds meaning in the resting and waiting of winter. Through family, storytelling, and time spent noticing the natural world, Dani learns about gratitude and begins sharing what winter has taught her with her friends.

Warmly illustrated and rooted in an Indigenous perspective, this thoughtful picture book offers children a different way to experience the season—not simply as cold weather, but as a time for rest, remembrance, gratitude, and connection.

Why Parents Love It

• Celebrates the quieter side of winter: Encourages children to notice rest, waiting, reflection, and change in the natural world.
• Centers an Indigenous perspective: Introduces young readers to a Potawatomi child and a relationship with nature shaped by gratitude, family, and Creator.
• Encourages meaningful conversations: Opens the door to discussions about gratitude, storytelling, seasons, family traditions, and how we care for the Earth.
• Beautiful for seasonal reading: An especially meaningful choice for winter nature study, outdoor classrooms, homeschool shelves, and family read-alouds.

Built for Real Outdoor Learning

This is a book that naturally invites children to take its ideas outside. After reading, step outdoors and notice what winter is doing: trees resting, animals adapting, snow changing the landscape, gardens lying quiet, and daylight shifting.

For nature-based classrooms and outdoor schools, Winter’s Gifts can become a starting point for seasonal observation, gratitude practices, nature journaling, storytelling, and conversations about the different ways people understand and honor the natural world.

Things to Know

• Recommended age: 3–7 years
• Grade level: Preschool–Grade 2
• Length: 40 pages
• Story focus: Winter, gratitude, rest, remembrance, family, storytelling, and relationship with nature
• Perspective: Told through the experience of a young Potawatomi girl and her family

Product Details

• Title: Winter’s Gifts: An Indigenous Celebration of Nature
• Author: Kaitlin B. Curtice
• Illustrator: Gloria Félix
• Publisher: Convergent Children’s
• ISBN: 9780593577813
• Pages: 40
• Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 inches
• Published: October 31, 2023

Why ODSS Recommends It

We love Winter’s Gifts because it encourages children to experience winter with curiosity rather than rushing through it. There is so much happening in nature during the quiet months—even when, at first glance, it looks like very little is happening at all.

The story gives families and educators a beautiful way to talk about rest, gratitude, storytelling, and our relationship with the Earth while introducing children to a Potawatomi perspective. It fits especially well into winter nature studies and outdoor classrooms because the ideas in the book can continue long after reading: step outside, notice what is resting, remember what the seasons have given us, and pay attention to what winter might be teaching.