When Spring Comes: An Easter And Springtime Book For Kids - Hardcover

Henkes, Kevin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062331396 ISBN 13: 9780062331397

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 2016

Synopsis

Watch the world transform when spring comes! In a starred review, School Library Journal called this delightful picture book “A must-have, joyful seasonal title for the youngest listeners.”

In this beautiful book for young children, Caldecott Medalist and Newbery Honor author Kevin Henkes uses striking imagery, repetition, and alliteration to introduce basic concepts of language and the changing of the seasons. And acclaimed artist Laura Dronzek’s gorgeous, lush paintings show the transformation from quiet, cold winter to the newborn spring.

Before spring comes, the trees are dark sticks, the grass is brown, and the ground is covered in snow. But if you wait, leaves unfurl and flowers blossom, the grass turns green, and the mounds of snow shrink and shrink. Spring brings baby birds, sprouting seeds, rain and mud, and puddles. You can feel it and smell it and hear it—and you can read it!

In a starred review, The Horn Book said, “This joyful reflection is as welcome as spotting the first brave crocus.”

In the Middle of Fall, Winter Is Here, When Spring Comes, and Summer Song make for a beautiful quartet of seasonal-theme picture books to share at home or in the classroom. Ideal for introducing the season, for story time, and for bedtime reading.

About this title

About the Authors

Kevin Henkes has been praised both as a writer and as an illustrator and is the recipient of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award for his lasting contribution to literature for children. He received the Caldecott Medal for Kitten’s First Full Moon; Caldecott Honors for Waiting and Owen; two Newbery Honors, one for Olive’s Ocean and one for The Year of Billy Miller; and Geisel Honors for Waiting and Penny and Her Marble. His other books include The World and Everything in It, A House, A Parade of Elephants, Chrysanthemum, and the beloved Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. Kevin Henkes lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.

Laura Dronzek is a painter whose work has been exhibited nationally. Her picture books include Moonlight, by Helen V. Griffith; It Is Night, by Phyllis Rowand; White Is for Blueberry, by George Shannon; Little Houses, by Kevin Henkes; and a quartet of seasonal picture books also by Kevin Henkes. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

From the Back Cover

When it is cold and snowy and bleak and brown, Spring seems very far away. But, if you wait, soon you will see leaves and blossoms. Soon you will feel pussy willows and raindrops. Soon you will smell flowers and mud. Soon you will hear birds and buzzing bees.

Are you ready for Spring?

Reviews

PreS-Gr 1—There's something almost magical about the changing of the seasons, and Henkes and Dronzek once again perfectly capture the quiet wonder of the natural world, as they did in Birds and Oh! Through second-person narration that features the refrain "but if you wait…," they detail the subtle and less subtle changes that occur as spring replaces winter—snow melts, trees and flowers blossom, birds hatch, and rain brings mud and puddles. Dronzek's vivacious acrylic illustrations, their bright colors emphasized by the thick black outlines, complement Henkes's spare but lyrical prose. VERDICT A must-have, joyful seasonal title for the youngest listeners that will make them impatient for all that spring brings.—Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062331396
• ISBN 13: 9780062331397
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Dronzek Laura
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40