NORTH FOR THE WINTER

Available wherever books are sold!

“Family, friendship, and shenanigan-filled bravery take flight in this Christmas tale.”
— Kirkus
“For ­patrons looking for a heartwarming, comforting Christmas tale, this is perfection.”
— School Library Journal - Starred Review
“This festive graphic novel is a delightful blend of adventure and heart.”
— Lee Unkrich - Director of Pixar's Coco

What would you think if you saw a reindeer fly? When this happens to Virginia, she isn’t sure what to do – she’s just lost her mom, she’s in a new city, and everything seems so hard. But when she reluctantly confesses what she saw to her neighbor, Benny, he’s convinced that flying reindeer can only mean one thing: this is Santa business.

In this stunning graphic novel debut from Pixar animator Bobby Podesta, two kids and a lost reindeer go up against an obsessive tracker, suspiciously convincing department store elves, and radar operators for the Continental Air Defense Command Center. No matter the odds, Virginia’s going to get Christmas back on track!

Fall 2025 Book Tour

Bobby was inspired by a Pixar co-worker to create an illustration-a-day for a year. This endeavor was titled The Winter Project, and the illustrations which were published online and shared in a show in Sacramento, explored characters and environments from one of Bobby’s in-progress Middle Grade books.

Joining Pixar Animation Studios in 1997, Bobby has been an animator and story artist on many of the studio’s films, pitched the idea for the series of Cars shorts titled Mater’s Tall Tales, and even supervised animation for a ride at Disneyland. Bobby served as Supervising Animator on Toy Story 3, Cars 3, and Soul. Bobby most recently directed episodes of the Disney+ series Cars on the Road.

Bobby has been drawing cartoons for longer than he can remember. While still in high school, he created a comic strip for the weekly teen section of the Sacramento Bee which ran from 1991-1993. 10 years later, in the time before social media, Bobby created the web comic Six Foot Six Year Old which ran from 2003-2004.