When Spring Comes

Description

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.

Kevin Henkes is the author and illustrator of more than fifty critically acclaimed and award-winning picture books, beginning readers, and novels. He received the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon in 2005, and Waiting won a Caldecott Honor and Geisel Honor in 2016. Kevin Henkes is also the creator of a number of picture books featuring his mouse characters, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Lilly's Big Day and Wemberly Worried, the Caldecott Honor Book Owen, and the beloved Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. His most recent mouse character, Penny, was introduced in Penny and Her Song; her story continued in Penny and Her Doll and Penny and Her Marble (a Geisel Honor Book). Bruce Handy, in a New York Times Book Review piece about A Good Day, wrote, "It should be said: Kevin Henkes is a genius." Kevin Henkes received two Newbery Honors for novels-one for The Year of Billy Miller, and the other for Olive's Ocean. Also among his fiction for older readers are the novels Junonia, Bird Lake Moon, The Birthday Room, and Sun & Spoon. Kevin Henkes has been published by Greenwillow Books since the release of his first book, All Alone, in 1981. His fiftieth book, the picture book Egg, was published in January 2017. Most recently, he is the author of In the Middle of Fall, Winter Is Here, Summer Song, A Parade of Elephants, Sweeping Up the Heart, and Penny and Her Sled. He lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin. www.kevinhenkes.com. Laura Dronzek is a painter whose work has been exhibited nationally. Her picture books include the acclaimed Birds, by Kevin Henkes; Oh!, by Kevin Henkes; White Is for Blueberry, by George Shannon; Tippy-Toe Chick, Go!, by George Shannon; Moonlight, by Helen V. Griffith; It Is Night, by Phyllis Rowand; and, most recently, When Spring Comes, by Kevin Henkes. She lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin.

"Henkes and Dronzek once again perfectly capture the quiet wonder of the natural world, as they did in Birds and Oh! ...Dronzek's vivacious acrylic illustrations, their bright colors emphasized by the thick black outlines, complement Henkes's spare but lyrical prose. A must-have, joyful seasonal title for the youngest listeners." -- School Library Journal (starred review) "Lyrical and elegant in its simplicity, this is an enchanting celebration of the season to pair with Oh!, the paean to winter created by this same husband and wife team." -- Booklist (starred review) "In a gently rhythmic text and lush, vibrant paintings, this husband-and-wife author-illustrator team ushers in spring, capturing the season's sights, sounds, and surprises. ...This joyful reflection is as welcome as spotting the first brave crocus." -- Horn Book (starred review) "Dronzek's cozy paintings combine the simplified shapes of plants, creatures, and children...Henkes is honest about spring's more trying moments, weaving themes of waiting and patience throughout...Readers, especially those who live in regions that experience the full range of changing seasons, will warm to this catalog of familiar joys." -- Publishers Weekly "A read-aloud dream, the meticulous text catalogs Spring's awakenings and its characteristic weather. ...Dronzek's thick-lined, bright acrylics are as simultaneously wry and joyous as the text...Henkes and Dronzek make waiting almost as much fun-if not more so-than the payoff." -- Kirkus "No harm comes to the bunnies, birds and kittens in Laura Dronzek's deliciously colorful paintings for 'When Spring Comes,' a gentle picture book written by Kevin Henkes. ...From brown to green, from eggs to birds, from seeds to flowers, seasonal changes transpire sweetly in these pages." -- Wall Street Journal "Henkes creates a childlike and child-friendly cadence with the rhythms of his writing, and the robust, thickly outlined art carries plenty of kid appeal as well. ...Expect this to see heavy use in classrooms and library story hours." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books