The Snowman Code by Simon Stephenson

with incredibly charming illustrations by Reggie Brown.

Ooof, I should have known from the introductory note itself, with the line “Sometimes it can feel like winter because there is snow inside”, that this book would wring me out. Gosh, when was the last time I had an ugly cry like this, over something that didn’t touch directly on dark chapters of my own past? I genuinely can’t recall, which only speaks to the power of this astonishing middle grade novel.

Blessing is ten years old and enduring the longest winter of her lifetime. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t mind the cold and snow. Trouble is, winter weather affects her mother Margaret adversely. Blessing has already been sent away twice to live with foster parents while Margaret was voluntarily institutionalized for depression, so the last thing she wants to do is upset her mother by admitting that she’s being bullied at school. Unable to take the bullying any longer tho, she begins to skip classes, loitering around London and making up stories to tell her mother about what she’s done all day instead.

Everything changes when she sees a snowman come to life in a deserted park one afternoon. The two strike up a friendship that sees them doing their best to help each other out, and that had me absolutely blubbering by the end of this moving yet still hilarious book about friendship, love, sadness and grief.

It’s honestly impressive how much Simon Stephenson packs into this one short novel about two unlikely souls who help each other through some of their darkest days. And don’t get me wrong: the reason I was crying wasn’t because of the hardships they went through. It was because of their courage and gallantry in staying true to one another throughout everything, from fighting bullies, to tracking down the snowman’s long-lost love, to solving the problem of a seemingly endless winter.

It isn’t a perfect book — it took me a while to figure out which city they were in, and the nurse falling for the appendix ruse stretched the bounds of even my credulity — but it is an important one, especially for young people grappling with loss or whose parents have mental illnesses or who have to spend time in the foster system. Honestly, it’s a great book for older readers, too, especially with the subtle reminder of the impact of climate change. This is a terrific, heartwarming read for the snowy months or for whenever your heart needs that flicker of heat to keep beating and feeling that the world is still a magical place.

The Snowman Code by Simon Stephenson will be published tomorrow December 16 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers and is available from all good booksellers, including