Seasons
written and illustrated by Anne Crausaz
Reading level: Baby-Preschool (and up)
Publisher: Kane/Miller
Date published: March 2011
ISBN-10: 161067006X, ISBN-13: 978-1610670067

My rating: 4.5/5 stars

Seasons will encourage children to see the joy in the natural world, to truly take in all the sensory experiences nature has to offer, and will remind adults of that joy.

Crausaz’s lean text reads almost like poetry. It is evocative; in just short sentences, she reminds us of our many senses and the way that we can enjoy nature–by seeing the green of springtime, smelling the blossoms, hearing the birds sing, feeling the tickle of a ladybug, tasting a sweet cherry. Crausaz’s text is very tactile. She reminds us of the simple beauty and magic of the world (fireflies, leaves to jump in), and encourages us to enjoy it. Crauzaz takes us from spring through all the seasons, and then back into spring again.

Crausaz, through beautifully spare, stylized art, shows us the beauty of nature, and the ways that we can interact with it. The leaves and flowers look almost like cut-outs, and are often repeated in patterns on the page. Only a few colors are used in each spread–red, green, some yellows and browns appearing most often–yet nothing feels like it’s missing. A young girl appears in many–but not all–of the spreads; nature is big and bright in the pages, and draws the reader’s attention.

Seasons can help introduce the outside world in a way that is soothing and cheering; it will encourage young and old to get out in nature and enjoy its beauty. Highly recommended.

Source: Review copy from publisher

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The Cold Water Witch by Yannick Murphy, illustrated by Tom Lintern, Random House, 2010    (review copy provided by publisher)

Part Snow Queen, part Hansel and Gretel, an icy stranger tries to entice a little girl to come with her to a land of ice and snow, with the promise that the child can be a princess there.  Wisely, the child refuses. The stranger is revealed as the Cold Water Witch who is looking for a little girl to take her place in the realm of cold.  The little girl's wariness and patience saves the "witch" and earns her a new friend. Murphy's little girl is a wise child who thinks before she acts.  I like Lintern's work.  I wish his Tooth Fairy Metts El Raton Perez had been selected for the Texas 2x2 list.  His frosty color palate is full of lavenders and icy blues here. 


Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman, illustrated by Liza Woodruff, Sterling, 2010
(review copy provided by publisher)

Patterned the preschool song "There Were Ten In The Bed", a group of 10 disparate animals pull a sled up a hill and take a wild ride down, falling off, one by one.  This is a nice "count down" book with alliterative exits for each animal, the hare hopped off, the walrus whirled out, the sheep shot out, the wolf wiped out etc.

Liza Woodruff has suggested the Northern Lights in the sky on the cover as Norman sets the story "on a sunlit night, 'neath a snowy moon."


Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: a book of changing seasons by Il Sung Na, Knopf, 2010  (review copy provided by publisher)

The copyright/edition page describes the illustrations for this book as a combination of "handmade painterly textures with digitally

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As mentioned last week, we’re sharing Shel Silverstein poems every Poetry Friday this month – we want to celebrate upcoming Poetry Month and Shel Silverstein’s upcoming brand-new collection of poetry and drawings, EVERY THING ON IT.

I flipped through A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC, looking for something perfect to fit this day or week.  And then I thought this one captured the springtime weather perfectly.  Here’s to warmer days ahead!

HERE COMES

Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Chirping robin, budding rose.
Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
Gentle showers, summer clothes.
Here comes summer,
Here comes summer –
Whoosh — shiver — there it goes.

A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC
By Shel Silverstein
ISBN 9780060256739

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Now Playing -     Ease Back by Amos Lee Life -    A combination of snow, sleet, more and more snow, warm and cold weather.. That's been the last few months. Which has resulted in an accumulation of very firmly packed snow topping out at over two feet in a lot of places in our yard. Our driveway, which gets plowed and scraped and sprayed with sand has suffered too. In some places, the ice on

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Frog and Toad All Year. An I Can Read Book. Arnold Lobel. 1976. HarperCollins. 64 pages.

Frog knocked at Toad's door. "Toad, wake up," he cried. "Come out and see how wonderful the winter is!" "I will not," said Toad. "I am in my warm bed." "Winter is beautiful," said Frog. "Come out and have fun." "Blah," said Toad. "I do not have any winter clothes." Frog came into the house. "I have brought you some things to wear," he said. Frog pushed a coat down over the top of Toad. Frog pulled snowpants up over the bottom of Toad. He put a hat and scarf on Toad's head. "Help!" cried Toad. "My best friend is trying to kill me!" "I am only getting you ready for winter," said Frog. 

I love Frog and Toad. I do. Do you?! Are you more like Toad or Frog?! This collection includes five stories--all season-themed stories--"Down the Hill," "The Corner," "Ice Cream," "The Surprise," and "Christmas Eve."

"Down the Hill," the winter-story of the collection, has Frog and Toad out in the snow. Sledding may be fun, Toad admits, but he can't help feeling that BED IS MUCH BETTER!

"The Corner," the spring-story of the collection, has Frog sharing words of wisdom from his father. Something about how spring is around the corner. This made the young Frog curious because which corner is spring around?! So he sets out to find it!

"Ice Cream," the summer-story of the collection, has Toad bringing his best friend some ice cream. But the trip back to Frog, back to the pond, doesn't go according to plan! And ice cream can be a bit messy and sticky. Will these two friends be able to enjoy some delicious ice cream?!

"The Surprise" the autumn-story of the collection, has Frog and Toad 'surprising' each other. Toad rushes to Frog's house to rake his leaves. Frog rushes to Toad's house to rake his leaves. But the wind may have the last laugh! Good thing these friends will never know!

"Christmas Eve" is a holiday story of course! Frog was supposed to come to Toad's house for a big dinner. But. Frog is late. Toad begins to worry and worry and worry. Where is his friend?! Where could he be?! Did something happen to him?! Does Frog need to be saved?! Frog arrives finally with present in hand. He was late because he was wrapping Toad's present. A peaceful Christmas is theirs at last.

I enjoyed this collection. While it isn't quite as magical as Frog and Toad Together, I would still recommend it!

© 2011 Becky Laney of Young Readers

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It's been a rough winter, and sometimes it feels like we are stuck in Narnia with only one season on repeat. I know that spring will come eventually, but it's difficult to keep things in perspective when all you can see are piles of white outside of your door. Are there signs of spring where you are? Please share them with us desperate Minnesotans!

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Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit. A Book of Changing Seasons. Il Sung Na. 2011. Random House. 24 pages.

When snow falls to the ground and all the trees are bare, everyone knows it's winter...including the rabbit.
Some fly away from the cold.
Some have a long cozy sleep where they live.
Some swim to warmer waters.

Readers learn about winter in Il Sung Na's newest picture book, Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit. Young readers can follow this bunny through the changing of several seasons--though this journey isn't always completely realistic. (A rabbit catching a ride on a sea turtle?!) Our rabbit friend can be spotted on each spread of the picture book. Readers learn about how different animals prefer for winter and the changes that season brings. For example, they learn that some animals hibernate, some migrate, some gather extra food, etc.

I believe this is Il Sung Na's third picture book. Other titles include A Book of Sleep and The Thingamabob.

I didn't love this one. I didn't dislike it either. I can say that it avoids the mistake of being too cute or too precious. I think the illustrations--if you care for them--might be impressive enough to be memorable.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Young Readers

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As we continue Reading Round Europe my first offering from Sweden is by a classic, much loved (and widely translated) author/illustrator, Elsa Beskow.

Born in 1874 Elsa Beskow published 40 odd books in her lifetime, many featuring children exploring fairy tale worlds where respect for nature plays a major role. She is credited with having been the first author to bring Swedish children’s literature to an international readership and her books are nowadays particularly popular with followers of Steiner and Waldorf education methods.

Two of Elskow’s books feature in 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before you Grow Up, Peter in Blueberry Land and Children of the Forest (Tomtebobarnen in Swedish, a word I just love the look and sound of!) and it is the latter I bring you a review of today.

A family of forest people live under the curling roots of an old pine tree, deep in a forest. They go about their lives playing, exploring, observing nature and overcoming danger and the book follows their simple and happy lives through the course of the four seasons. They make friends with frogs, fight (and kill) a snake, collect mushrooms, harvest cotton grass and feed their animal friends when the snow comes. Their life is almost carefree and idyllic, in harmony with nature and their surroundings.

The original Swedish text was written in rhyme, but this has not been retained in the English version. Perhaps this was a wise decision, for the text certainly never feels like it is a translation. One of my favourite quotes is “They paddled and splashed in the stream, damming it to build a water mill. No one card how wet or muddy they were for no child of the forest can catch cold“. This made me think of the forest kindergarten movement, a type of preschool education which is held almost exclusively outdoors.

The illustrations will delight you if you like Beatrix Potter or Jill Barklem. They are the perfect mix of reality (in so many details, such as the mottling on the silver birch bark used as a shield by the father of the family) and fantasy (pint sized people, trolls and fairies). There is nothing modern, avant garde or unsettling about

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My son is 8 and although he knows a lot about the world, I'm sometimes surprised at what I assume he knows and doesn't. We had another 2" of snow overnight on Tuesday and therefore (somewhat absurdly) a 2-hour delay on Wednesday, so we had time to gear up and head out to the bus stop half-an-hour early. It wasn't great snowball snow--fine and flaky and extra-sparkly in the sun--so we found other ways to amuse ourselves, like shaking snow off branches (and is there anything more beautiful than dark branches frosted in sparkling snow against a blue, blue sky?) .

"Look at all the buds," I said. "They know spring will come again even though it doesn't feel like it now." I bothered to say it out loud because this knowledge added to my hopeful, sunny, fresh-air feeling. Duncan looked up and said, "What buds?" You know, like he'd never heard of buds. I pointed out the little textured teardrops at the end of each twig on the--actually I don't even know what kind of tree we were standing under. "Each of those is a tiny beginning of a leaf, just waiting for the weather to warm up." "Really? Cool," he replied, and went to jump daringly into the snow from a wall which is rumored to contain a snakehole.

There was time when I eschewed exclamation marks as a sign of weak writing in need of bolstering by flashy punctuation. Frank O'Hara changed my mind about that (and has inspired many others), and see how WCW uses one surprisingly! in this otherwise softspoken poem. I think it renders perfectly the feeling we have when we can cross something big off our to-do list, relax and store up wisdom. Hm. I miss that feeling...

Winter Trees
by William Carlos Williams

All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.

Enjoy Poetry Friday today with Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids--and congratulations indeed to Joyce Sidman for her Newbery Honor medal--it'll look great on the cover of Dark Emperor. Go Poetry!

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Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

A brilliant combination of haiku poems, clever humor, and engaging illustrations, this book is sure to appeal to its target audience of guys and also to girls.  Celebrating the small things in life, each haiku takes a moment in time and then offers a grin to the reader.  The poems are arranged in seasons, fitting because so many of them are about nature and a boy’s relationship with it.  Whether it is flying a kite, skipping rocks, leaf piles or snowball fights, children will relate easily to these vignettes about the things that make life fun. 

Raczka’s haiku are light-hearted and enjoyable.  Thanks to the brief nature of the format, the poems are easily shared aloud.  Nicely, the poems stand on their own or work together as a larger piece of writing.  Reynolds’ art is equally engaging.  It too has a great humor about it but also a sense that a moment is being captured. 

A celebration of seasons, play and boyhood, this book is a treat.  If librarians are looking for something to take with them for summer reading program visits, the summer haiku here would make a great thing to share with boys of many ages.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from library copy.

• Also reviewed by:
  • Becky’s Book Reviews
  • BookDads
  • Fuse #8
  • A Year of Reading

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Let It Snow. Maryann Cocca-Leffler. 2010. Scholastic. 24 pages.

Let it snow!
It's winter!
Swirling, whirling,
first snowflakes.
Skating, spinning on frozen lakes.
Lacy trees, hills of white, 
sledding, snowmen, snowball fight.

This one is a short and simple picture book celebrating winter. Of course, the winter in this picture book is one filled with snow, snow, and more snow. The children are THRILLED of course with what "fun" snow brings into their lives. But as the winter progresses, some of the thrills begin to lessen. The book follows children through the season of winter--the book closes with the first signs of spring.

This is the follow up to Let it Fall which was published earlier this year. Both books appear to be simple, poetic, and reader-friendly.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

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My official swap partner for Perfect Picture Books by Post was Beth and her homeschooling family in New Hampshire. They chose to send us a Caldecott medal winning picture book set in their home state, Ox-cart Man by Donald Hall, illustrated by Barbara Cooney.

Beth couldn’t have known that right here, right now this is the perfect picture book for us – I’m currently reading M Little House on the Prairie, and as soon as we’d finished reading Ox-cart Man she immediately made a connection between the two. Somehow seeing the life she’s listening to shown in another book really thrilled her and ever since it has been inspiring hours and hours of role play.

Ox-cart Man depicts the rhythm of a year in the life of a New England farmer and his family in the early to mid 1800s. Opening with the farmer packing up his ox-cart with goods he and his family have grown, made and prepared throughout the preceding 12 months, we follow his journey through russet and gold autumnal countryside to Portsmouth Market, where he sells his wares, right down to his ox and cart. Using his earnings to buy a few store goods for his family he returns home to start preparing for the following year’s market, with his first task being to build a new yoke and cart.

The tale is told in a sparse and unadorned manner (for example, barely any adjectives are used), mirroring the family life being depicted. But in the eyes of a 21st century girl it is a tale full of wonder. I think M found it both slightly baffling and rather thrilling to see how much the family makes and grows for itself (even though we make and grow quite a lot ourselves, at least by urban, British standards). Baffling because of the simple lack of “stuff” and the value placed on nowadays seemingly almost valueless items like a single needle, and thrilling because it appeals to every young child’s sense of independence and belief that they can do everything themselves.

Barbara Cooney’s illustrations match the simplicity of the text. They are unfussy, yet full of historical detail and

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As I noted some weeks ago, I'm participating in SPARK 10, an online collaboration project between artists and writers. This painting is by Delores Ekberg of Piedmont, SD. Here's how she describes the work: "This is watercolor on rice paper...fun to do. You crumple rice paper, attach it to illustration board with acrylic matt medium, then brush color on the creases, or "rub" color on the creases...I used colored pencils...then use watercolor to make a picture of whatever you see coming out of the textures."

Here's my poem (probably not my final draft) inspired by the art. Ooh, I hope she likes it!

Willowriver


blossoms in autumn from
crumpled trunks
rootrippled river
from wrinkled tips of twigs

hangs lowswinging
among elderly leaves
spinning dry mineral hues

falls to ground
lies in brittle layers
sinking to siltsoil taking down
swallowed sunlight

sends up heat
is wisdom


Enjoy all the poetic richness of Poetry Friday this week with Toby at The Writers' Armchair.

P.S. Two notes to all my PF friends:
1) I apologize for receiving all your kind comments and regularly failing to return the favor. I shall try to do better now that my teaching life is settling down.
2) Will you be at NCTE? Let me know!

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