Spring Things

March 1, 2007
PreS-Gr 3-Enliven your theme lists for seasons, spring, verbs, or just fun with this cheerful picture book. Spring ends with "ing," and Raczka takes children from winter's end to summer's beginning with several befitting "ing" words. From "Melting, dripping, cold's grip slipping" to "buzzing, hummingsummer's coming!" readers will remember all of the things they love to do when the weather changes. Using a spring palette, Stead's paintings add an entertaining element and useful clarification to the active text. "Trees leaf-outing" and "lemonading" provide humor and fit the rhyme pattern but might hamper the book's value as a verb-teaching tool. The book includes a four-question rhyming quiz that has the same uplifting spirit as the book."June Wolfe, Bushnell-Sage Library, Sheffield, MA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2007
This cheerful picture book celebrates the season in pithy, rhyming phrases and sunny artwork. With only a few words on each double-page spread, the text features apt expressions that are sometimes childlike or inventive, such as "Sunning, warming, thunderstorming" and "Biking, blading, lemonading." Stead's paintings have an informal air that suits the text. A series of nicely composed, horizontal paintings portray children enjoying the pleasures of the season, from baseball to hopscotch to planting; they create a sense of motion as well as a sense of joy. A fine seasonal read-aloud choice for story programs or lap-sit sessions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)