WHERE ARE ALL THE MINNESOTANS?

There is nothing subtle about a picture book that asks, “Where are all the Minnesotans? Is it too cold to go outside?”

The first double-page spread depicts the front of a clapboard house, roof piled with snow, eaves hung with icicles, and a freshly shoveled walk with nary a soul in sight. If readers are thinking that the occupants of this northern Midwest state spend their winters hunkering down indoors, waiting for the spring thaw, they’d be wrong. Coleman answers her titular question emphatically “No!” and then describes the process of layering for the outdoors. Hartman’s watercolor illustrations accurately depict the puffy jackets and the toggled snow boots, knit watch caps and hats with earflaps, lined mittens and scarves covering mouths needed to face the shocking cold. Where are the Minnesotans? They are ice fishing, of course. Is it too cold to skate? Not for kids playing hockey on a frozen pond. Hartman here shows a diverse group of players in a pickup game with a girl playing center about to make a goal. Is it too cold for a parade? Nope. Astonishingly, it isn’t even too cold to fly a kite. “A frozen lake is the perfect place.”

A peek into how people in the northern Midwest cope with their long, frigid winters with good humor, celebrations, sports, and activities until summer finally arrives