Book of the Month: "The Cold Winter & Around the Fire" —A Cozy Dual-Story Winter Read

Image: Book cover of The Cold Winter & Warm Around the Fire. Top half is the title The Cold Winter in front of illustrated snow flakes falling. The bottom half is the title Warm Around the Fire above an illustrated fire place. This is a single book with two stories.

Readers can settle in with The Cold Winter & Around the Fire, a Robinson Reading System book that brings the magic of winter to life through two engaging stories.

Image: Illustration of a fox in her den. From the story The Cold Winter

In The Cold Winter, readers explore the quiet, snow-covered forest and discover how animals like deer, squirrels, and bears adapt to the chilly months. This books features beautifully illustrated dens and woodland scenes. Around the Fire shifts the focus indoors, celebrating the warmth of fuzzy socks, crackling fires, and steaming mugs of warm beverages.

Image: A cabin surrounded by snow. From the story Around the Fire.

This dual-story format provides variety while maintaining a cohesive winter theme, making it a perfect addition to any tutoring session or cozy reading time. Find a reading tutor for your child at www.RobinsonReading.org/tutor

Robinson Reading Company is delighted to feature The Cold Winter & Around the Fire as its February 2025 Book of the Month!

By Kearney Robinson, M.Ed.

What is Reading? (A Simple View of Reading)

Image: R = D x C. Reading = Decoding x Comprehension

Reading is more than just recognizing letters and sounding out words. It requires two key skills:

1. Decoding – the ability to translate written symbols into spoken sounds. This is not an instinctive process; it must be taught systematically. Some languages have simpler decoding rules than others.

   
   

2. Language Comprehension – the ability to understand the meaning of words and sentences. Unlike decoding, comprehension develops naturally through exposure to spoken language.

   
   

Reading = Decoding X Comprehension is the Simple View formula presented by Philip B. Gough and William E. Tunmer in 1986 to represent this definition of "reading."

To truly read, you need both.

Image: Hands holding a book with the text: boo, doo, dee, loo

A Simple Thought Experiment

Imagine you’re in a foreign country, and someone hands you a sheet of paper with words written in Roman letters. You carefully pronounce them aloud:

"Boo, doo, dee, loo."

The people around you cheer—you said the words perfectly!

But did you read? Not really. While you decoded the text correctly, you have no idea what it means. Decoding alone isn’t enough—you need language comprehension.

Now, consider a native speaker listening to you. They instantly understand that the phrase means, "It's time for lunch!" However, when they look at the paper, they cannot recognize or pronounce the written words.

Can they read? No. They have language comprehension but lack decoding skills.

Finally, another native speaker picks up the sheet. They effortlessly recognize how to pronounce the words and understand their meaning: "It’s time for lunch!"

Can they read? Yes—because they have both decoding and comprehension.

The Key Takeaway

Reading isn’t just about sounding out words, nor is it just about understanding language. True literacy comes from mastering both skills—decoding and comprehension—working together.

The Robinson Reading System® harnesses the power of a linguistic approach to reading. It systematically teaches the 41 sounds of the English language along with their most common spellings (decoding), known as the Robinson Code, while incorporating instructional strategies to reinforce and ensure comprehension. This structured method was developed and patented by Dr. Robinson and is exclusively used with permission from the Robinson Reading System®.