"These are stories that the Kiowa Indian people believe and tell about how things got started and came to be. Saynday was the one, they say, who got lots of things in our world started and going."--Page 7.

Iréne gives the wealthy businessmen what they want, diving headfirst into the filthy river, thinking only of providing for her baby daughter, Marisa, as the men salivate over her soaked body emerging onto the bank. A young boy tries to befriend the reticent younger sister of the town's cruelest bully, only to discover the family betrayal behind her quiet countenance. Josefa, a young bride, is executed for murdering the man who raped her. Joy Castro's How Winter Began traces these and other characters as they seek compassion from each other and themselves. Thematically linked by the lives of women, especially Latinas, and their experiences of poverty and violence in a white-dominated, wealth-obsessed culture, How Winter Began is a delicately wrought collection of stories. The question at the heart of this riveting book is how or whether to trust one another after the rupture of betrayal.

A breeze blew. Alfie closed his eyes, and - held on tight. "AL-FIE, AL-FIE, AL-FIE..." All the leaves on the ground shouted together. But Alfie could not jump. And so, Alfie's long winter began.

In a simple, cheerful conversation with nature, a young boy observes how the season changes from winter to spring in Kenard Pak's Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring. As days stretch longer, animals creep out from their warm dens, and green begins to grow again, everyone knows—spring is on its way! Join a boy and his dog as they explore nature and take a stroll through the countryside, greeting all the signs of the coming season. In a series of conversations with everything from the melting brook to chirping birds, they say goodbye to winter and welcome the lushness of spring.

Originally published: New York: Summit Books, 1989.