From L’Alliance New York’s Library: 8 Reads for Fall and Winter

Our Haskell Library team is always ready when it comes to offering book recommendations—whether you’re looking for a genre, a mood, or a theme, they’ll direct you to your new favorite page-turner. In the spirit of the season, we asked librarians Frédérique Drouin and Josephine Kraemer to gather eight of their go-to reads for fall and winter. Here are their expert picks, including intriguing summaries.

 

Le vent m’a pris… (The Wind Stole…) by Rascal 

Ages 0-2

“The wind took…one by one, all my clothes! Thankfully, the birds are here.” As you can tell from the short excerpt, this book for young children humorously tackles the theme of autumn clothing. 

 

Anton et la feuille (Anton and the Leaf) by Ole Könnecke

Ages 3-4

A children’s favorite at the library. Anton follows a leaf, his friends follow Anton, and we are swept away by this funny and light-hearted story about the autumn wind.

 

Les Cocottes ont les chocottes (The Cocottes are Crazy) by Christian Jolibois

Ages 6-8

Jolibois’ Les P’tites Poules brave the cold while listening to the spooky stories of Uncle Hitch Coq… But when a legendary tree attacks them, they defend themselves with flair!

 

Sacrées Sorcières (The Witches) by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Pénélope Bagieu

Ages 10-12

Bagieu took on the challenge of illustrating Dahl after the author’s best-known visual collaborator Quentin Blake. Blake’s are big shoes to fill, but Bagieu brings her distinctive mark to this classic, which still gives us chills—a fitting read for fall and winter.

 

La Passe-miroir tome 1: Les fiancés de l’hiver (The Mirror Visitor 1: A Winter’s Promise) by Christelle Dabos

Ages 13+

For young adult and adult readers alike, this fantasy story is the first in a quartet, as well as Josephine’s absolute favorite book! Follow Ophélie, a timid but quietly resolved young woman with unique abilities as she is shipped off to the Pôle, an arch stuck in perpetual winter. There, she must brave the treacheries of the court, as well as her own fiancé’s frigid nature. A book to get lost in—the moment you finish, you’ll want to immediately pick up its sequel, Les disparus du Clairdelune (The Missing of Clairdelune).

 

La Panthère des neiges (The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow Leopard in Tibet) by Sylvain Tesson

Adults

This book takes us to the Tibetan plateaus, following a writer and photographer on the trail of the elusive snow leopard. It’s a riveting adventure narrative that also offers a poignant reflection on the animal kingdom. Winner of the 2019 Prix Renaudot.

 

Jacaranda (Jacaranda) by Gaël Faye

Adults 

Nominated for a slew of awards in this year’s Rentrée Littéraire, this selection will be gracing our library’s shelves very soon! Over the course of four generations in Rwanda and under the watchful presence of the jacaranda tree, this story explores and celebrates the capacity for humanity to rise against terrible darkness and thrive despite it.

 

Les Guerriers de l’Hiver (The Winter Warriors) by Olivier Norek

Adults 

This book, which is nominated for this year’s Prix Goncourt and Prix Renaudot (among others), will be available soon at the library. This historical fiction tells the story of Simo Häyhä, Finnish sniper turned national hero, during his small country’s brave defiance of the USSR in 1939.

 

If you love Frédérique and Josephine’s curated reads for fall and winter, stop by the Haskell Library for even more personalized picks, or check out the library’s favorite books for learning French and five books for la rentrée.