Nobody is good at ice skating on the first day. That is the honest, slightly brutal thing about the sport, and it is why the books are worth having on hand: a child walks into the rink imagining a spin and spends the first hour holding the boards, ankles folding inward, getting up wet. Then, usually without warning and usually on the third or fourth visit, the pushing turns into gliding and the whole thing flips over into the closest a person gets to flying indoors. Skating also comes in two very different flavors in children’s books — the rink, with its rental counter and its Zamboni and its Saturday lesson at eight in the morning, and the pond, which freezes when it feels like it, has no rules, and is the setting for most of the loveliest writing on this shelf.
Our editors went through Bookroo’s collection of 73 ice skating books and picked twelve that cover the whole arc: the toddler who mainly wants the boots, the six-year-old sitting on the ice more than standing on it, the reader who wants to know what a lutz actually is, and the eleven-year-old who has started caring about qualifying. There is a picture-book biography of the skater who was turned away from every rink in New York and got onto the ice anyway, a current one about the man who landed the quads, two Dutch-canal stories from the era when skates were how a child got to school, and a contemporary middle grade novel set inside real competition season. Start with the shortlist, then use the age shelves below — board books for the toddler stage, picture books for the year of the first pair of skates, and chapter books for readers old enough to want the sport and not just the sparkle.
Red needs new skates, the pairs competition is the only way to win them, and the last partner left is the wolf.
Lola is certain she cannot possibly skate without her own actual ice skates. Charlie has heard this before.
A wordless skating duet between a girl and a penguin, right up until she gives him the cold shoulder.
A field mouse discovers ice skating and cannot understand why her friends would rather stay in their burrows.
Mabel Fairbanks was refused entry to every rink in New York, so she taught herself in secondhand skates stuffed with cotton.
Miles bets his best friend he can learn to skate, which would be easier if he could stand up.
A Maine winter told through twelve kinds of ice, from the first skim on a bucket to the backyard rink and the show that ends the season.
How a boy from Salt Lake City who started in ballet and gymnastics became the skater who landed the quads.
In 1941, a Dutch boy has to lead two younger children across the frozen canals to Belgium, past German soldiers, looking like an ordinary skating party.
Sent to the rink to recover from an illness, Harriet turns out to have the talent her champion-in-training friend is losing interest in.
Two poor Dutch children enter a race for a pair of silver skates while trying to find a doctor who can help their father.
Maxine wants Nationals. A stellar new skater at her rink and a classmate who keeps mocking her Chinese heritage are both in the way.
A short shelf — four sturdy books about wobbling onto the ice, for toddlers who mostly want to look at the skates. Ages 0–4.
Goslings face a frozen pond. Is it a new adventure or a challenge?
Lorina Llama and Gino Giraffe face off in a thrilling ice skating showdown.
Can Paddington find skates and learn to ice skate in time for the disco?
Can Angelina find a way to skate when the rink is closed?
Read-alouds for the year a child first laces up: first-time-on-the-ice stories, rink-day comedies, animal skaters, and picture-book biographies of the champions already on the bedroom wall. Ages 3–8.
A young girl gets a new pair of ice skates and learns to love them despite their initial imperfections.
A young girl born in Nice, France, rises through the world of competitive figure skating, defying expectations and fighting for recognition on her own terms.
A skating pond dispute threatens Christmas joy. Can hidden secrets save the day?
Three girls race to save a friend after a Christmas ice-skating mishap.
A pig dreams of stardom but finds her true calling on the ice rink.
Stanley skates on thin ice as the weather warms unexpectedly.
A pig skates in Paris, discovering unity in diversity.
Can Pearl master her new skates and glide like she dreams?
A child's first skating adventure leads to a cozy bedtime mystery.
Can Angelina save the New Year's Eve ice dance from chaos?
Can Tallulah learn that fun matters more than perfection on the ice?
Five ducks enjoy a snowy day of play and cozy evening treats.
Learn-to-skate early chapter books, rink mysteries, and the competition-season novels about coaches, rivals, growth spurts, and what happens after a fall — for independent readers ages 6–11.
A young skater faces identity challenges on and off the ice.
A skater faces fierce competition and must rediscover her passion before the showdown.
Can a bake sale reunite friends separated by an ocean?
A journalist must learn to ice skate to protect the Silver Skates from being stolen.
A group of mouse friends try to solve a mystery involving a stolen ring and a skating competition.
Nikki must save an animal shelter, but rival MacKenzie complicates her plans.
A nonbinary skater must choose between truth and success on the ice.
A witch must learn to skate and balance babysitting before the big show.
Young detectives go undercover as skaters to crack a coded mystery.
A magic wind turns Katie into an Olympic skater and a snowboarder, causing chaos.
Can Rosa balance ambition and passion on the ice in Chicago?
Magic ribbons vanish, dances falter. Can two friends restore the fairies' groove?
