Long winter days call for a roaring fire, a mug of hot chocolate and a riveting read offering escape and adventure. Why not “Cozy Up With a Good Book?” This month Newsbee has several in mind he’d like to suggest, books that will chase the winter blues away. You’re sure to enjoy the tale of a bristly bear, a blue-dotted imaginary friend and a preteen girl with pluck. Grab the marshmallows and Page On!* * * * * * * * * * *Sometimes life dishes out more than you’ve bargained for. “Mother Bruce,” the cranky black bear in a book by the same title sure has his paws full. Ryan T. Higgins wrote and illustrated this story, guaranteed to crack up readers young and old.While the burly bear doesn’t like much, he loves eggs and hones his culinary skills with “fancy” recipes from the Internet. When he pays Mrs. Goose a visit, and nabs four organic eggs, his recipe comes to life. Instead of hardboiled eggs he gets four gasping goslings.So goes bear’s transformation from bachelor to mother of an unruly, devoted quad of honkers with an attachment that’s more than feathers deep. If you can’t beat them join them, bear figures, as he basks on the beach in Florida.Going south has never been more fun.* * * * * * * * * * * Finding the perfect friend, a “forever” pal, is a frustrating, futile failure for Sam until he hooks up with “Imaginary Fred,” a character and book that comes to life by Eoin Colfer, a favorite author of many readers.Fred is the product of Sam’s imagination, but that doesn’t make him any less valued. Imaginary Fred is a treasure who enjoys all the same things as Sam, “reading . . . understanding how the toilet worked . . . listening to music on Sam’s dad’s sound system . . . and writing plays and acting them out for Sam’s parents.”Amidst all this hilarity and bonding, Fred has worries. He knows the day will come when Sam will find a human friend, a real person, not just a figment of an overzealous imagination. Thinking about this makes Fred begin to fade, his blue dots becoming obscure.Illustrator Oliver Jeffers isn’t about to allow this to happen, and neither is Sam, both do their best to keep Fred around in ingenious ways in a book that appears comedic, but in truth carries a sincere message.* * * * * * * * * * *Awesome Audacity is the spunky heroine of an exciting, new historical fiction series by Kirby Larson, a Newbery Honor author. “Audacity Jones to the Rescue” debuts an 11-year-old orphan at Miss Maisie’s School for Wayward Girls, in Swayzee, Ind.Audie, for short, longs for adventure, other than the factious ones she finds in books in the “Punishment Room,” a sequestered spot where she is constantly banished, her only company her faithful feline friend, Min.A storyteller and book lover, Audie doesn’t know quite what to make of Commodore Crutchfield, a portly gentleman who shows up at the orphanage and wants to adopt her “for a mission” of “utmost secrecy.”Audie jumps at the chance to spice up her dull life, and so is roped into a scheme that involves a visit to the White House, President Taft, turtle soup and a bevy of colorful villains, simultaneously funny and dire.Hold onto your period hats, Audie’s on the loose, metaphors a-flying in a clever book written in an engaging voice sure to captivate from the get go.Youngest Pick, "Mother Bruce"Middle Pick, "Imaginary Fred"Oldest Pick, "Audacity Jones to the Rescue"