WAITING for spring is not quite as hard as waiting for Christmas but it is still difficult.
One balmy winter day is all it takes to lead to thoughts of walks in the park, flowers, bunnies, lighter clothing and ice cream. And Then it's Spring chronicles the waiting game particularly well. The author lives in the Hudson Valley where winter usually lasts much longer than it does on the West Coast and residents really really want spring to arrive. This gentle picture book's minimal text emphasizes the hopeful anticipation of a little boy and his dog as they plant a garden and wait and wait and wait. "First you have brown, all around you have brown" at the beginning of the story and the illustration shows a little boy in winter clothing staring at a bare pasture and leafless tree. Later you have "a hopeful, very possible sort of brown" and then the brown has "a greenish hum" until suddenly one day spring has arrived. Each page shows the boy (who gradually moves into short sleeves from a heavy sweater) and his equally hopeful dog examining the ground and worrying about the progress of the seeds. The boy speculates that perhaps stomping bears have damaged the seeds when nothing happens but the reader knows better after viewing the illustration in cross-section on the following page which shows that the seeds have put down little rootlets and all is well. The dog's expressive posture indicates that he is also eager for spring. The understated humour is very clearly realized in the illustrations. Read this to a picture book fan and then visit a garden!
Some other picture books with a spring theme are as follows:
- The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus
- The Easter Bunny's Assistant by Jan Thomas
- Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble by Cynthia Rylant
- Hooray for Spring by Kazuo Iwamura
- In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb by Marion Dane Bauer
- Kitten's Spring by Eugenie Fernandes
- Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! By G. Brian Karas
- Old Bear by Kevin Henkes
- Spring is Here! By Will Hillenbrand
- Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur
- Who's Awake in Springtime by Phillis Gershator
Fran Ashdown is the children's librarian at the Capilano Branch of the North Vancouver District Library. She is thinking of buying a skipping rope in celebration of spring. For more library information, check out www.nvdpl.ca.
