This is a sweet little story with incredibly adorable and beautifully illustrated characters. I read this to my 3 ½ year old granddaughter who is wise beyond her years and she commented “there will be a new snowman next year, right grandma?” So this is a great story about a snowman and how the forest animals help to keep him warm in the winter and how they are sad when he melts. The closing lines “Look around and you will see that Snowman is always with you. In every flower, in every leaf, and especially in everyone’s heart” will take some explaining from an adult.

I had a bit of a hard time understanding exactly what the author means by this??? I’m thinking that memories of a friend are special even if they are no longer with you? Which is a bit philosophical and hard to explain to a 3 year old.

So as an early reader I think this is a beautifully illustrated little story but I’m not sure if little ones will get the meaning on the last page. I had hoped the ending would be a little more explanatory about friendship.

I received an ARC of this children’s book from the publisher through NetGalley.

My nephew and I thoroughly enjoyed this heartwarming tale about friendship and magic and keeping those we love alive in our hearts. The illustrations were just lovely, bright and fun, perfectly depicting the words in the story. It is a story he enjoyed reading over and over.

A lovely book that teaches about love and kindness. It’s educative quirky and fun with its vibrantly colorful illustrations. Any child would love and cherish this openly friendly book, that does not discriminate.

Such a sweet story filled with compassion and love. Letting go of friends can be hard for all of us, especially when we're young. Through beautifully illustrated pictures, A Warm Friendship shows children how to sympathize with other's hardships and the positive results that come from it. It also illustrates how to let go of those we lose in life, but how to remember them fondly afterwards. A beautiful book! #AWarmFriendship #NetGalley

The book is really pretty, has really cute pictures and I think it’s prefect for children just the storyline it’s a little confuse between the snowman having cold (which doesn’t have much sense because I mean is a snowman haha) and all the animals trying to get him warm but beside that a cute book and I love cute books specially for kids and about Christmas or winter and snow.

Although the drawings in this book were very colorful, as a whole I didn't like this book. The story line seemed both dramatic and choppy, and some emotions were a little exaggerated (i.e. the squirrel sobbing about the snowman). I think it tried to go too deep for a very short children's book, and the result was a little disappointing.

A Warm Friendship is a charming little story about a squirrel who finds Snowman outside her house shivering in the cold and decides to lend him his scarf. As more his friends pass by, they all stop to offer their blankets and scarves to Snowman. As time rolls by, winter turns into summer, and the temperature gradually melts, Snowman starts to melts. One morning squirrel wakes up to find that her dear friend is gone and this saddens her.
The illustrations are detailed and colorful, and I like the motif used in this book.

Thank you to Ellen Delange, NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story was so heartwarming and the illustrations were stunningly bright! You could read this one at any age and still feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I truly loved the creative and original illustrations. They are very colourful and you always discover a tiny nice detail within. I also liked the friendship and how squirrel tried to save the snowman, also the collaboration between the forest animals to keep the snowman warm. However, the ending was a bit rushed and made not much sense. Beforehand the snowman was freezing, the scarves kept him warm and he did not melt. And all of a sudden he did melt.

A wonderful story to show children how to be a good friend and that sometimes we lose people or things that are close to us. It leaves us with the message that even the people or things that our no longer in our lives are always in our heart. My daughter enjoyed the story and it's message. The pictures are also very appealing. My daughter and I are grateful to NetGalley for this ARC so we could read this beautiful story of friendship.

A Warm Friendship by Ellen DeLange. All the animals warm up the snowmen but than the sun melts the snowman. A cute story about winter.

This is a short, beautifully illustrated picture book that tells the story of a squirrel and a snowman who become friends during the coldest part of the year. Snowman is cold and squirrel realizes that he wants to help. Soon our snowman is covered in scarves and blankets. Snowman and a variety of animal friends enjoy spending time together. You can probably guess what happens...Spring comes and snowman is no longer there. Squirrel and his friends miss the snowman. The wise owl tells them "Look around and you will see that Snowman is always with you." This seems to me to make this book one that can be read by children to help them to cope with a death.

I understand the concept of this book and can see where it could be a non-threatening way to talk with children. I do think that some of them may wonder why a snowman would not want to be cold in winter but perhaps that is a small quibble.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this read in exchange for an honest review.

The pictures and colours in this book are brilliant and the story is short and oh so sweet! Teaching children about making new friends and how to remember them when our friends must go. My 4 year old loved this story is was the perfect length to keep her interested beginning to end.

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be super cheesy. However, I feel that there are a great many layers to the book. While a young child may interpret the book as a friendship between a snowman and a squirrel, I read it as a relationship between any two people. The book is all about while someone may not be here with us physically, they are always with us if we just look around. I loved both the writing style and illustrations of the book and I plan to buy this book one day for myself and my future children.

Having just read one book for a young audience from the same publisher that might be about teaching the very young about death (Mr Cat and the Little Girl), here is one that is certainly to that purpose, and certainly about that end. A squirrel has a jolly time when it and its friends take sympathy on a nicely spoken, horned snowman that appears in their woods. But, of course, there's a but – and this is a but that is obvious from halfway through this, if not before. That lack of surprise is not a hindrance here, however, for this book is all about making death an obvious certainty, as well as enjoying life to the last. It's conveyed in a nice visual style, bringing much more colour than you might expect to proceedings. I'd deem this a strong success.

This book makes little sense. It's all about a snowman who's cold. That's the first problem right there. A snowman should be cold! He's made of snow. From there, it gets a bit ridiculous...

See, the animals all bring scarves and blankets to warm the snowman up. Then they all snuggle in together to sleep. For whatever reason, this doesn't melt the snowman.

But the sun does. One morning, the animals discover nothing but a pile of blankets and scarves in the middle of the forest. The snowman is gone. Some of the animals are upset. Owl, thinking he's probably helping, tells Squirrel not to be sad. (Yeah, kids. Don't be sad when your best friend dies! Just don't.) I understand Owl's point about remembering the good times, but telling children not to have emotions after a loss just doesn't sit right with me.

There was only one way this story could end, really, but I'm still confused as to why the animals spent the first part of the book trying to warm up the snowman if they didn't want him to melt! There's a failure of logic here...

The illustrations are okay. They're colourful and there's plenty to look at, but I don't really like the style. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Overall, I found this one rather disappointing. I wouldn't have minded a story about forest animals having to deal with the loss of their snowman friend... but the fact that they spent the first part of the book trying to warm up a snowman--that they didn't want to melt--didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Ellen DeLange writes a warm and beautiful book that includes very attractive images. Great reading for the young reader who is ready for dialogue and multiple character fiction with pictures for support.

Not sure, but I think this little gem covers a quite a few bases: impermanence, death, friendship, science, caring, sharing, etc... pretty good for one small story. Make of it what you will and enjoy the discussion with the littles! It's really very sweet, in a strange way. A snowman cold?? It needs to be wrapped up to stay warm? Huh, ok, suspend the reasoning. it's nice to see the forest community come together for him! . Littles will think that's nice. But you know what happens when he warms up. right? Kind of a Frosty the Snowman, he'll be back next winter, or not! It will provoke discussions I am sure. Illustrations are cute!

A Warm Friendship is a gorgeously illustrated children's picture book that takes on the topic of friendship and loss. Ellen DeLange does a great job sharing this difficult message in an age-appropriate and accessible manner. She is able to discuss grief and loss while also sharing ideas about how to keep someone's memory alive once they are gone. The colorful scarves and quilts were such a beautiful and comforting addition to this story. Highly recommend!

This bright, warm tale with make kids feel warm and cozy. The wonderful quilt pattern graphics will make kids feel the warmth while dealing with emotional acceptance. When squirrel is sad but then comforted by his friend it is a great lesson on empathy.