And Then It's Spring {The Reading List}

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It’s cold and rainy today, the first day in what I hope is the last stretch of cold, rainy weather before the warm spring weather really sticks around. We’ve had flashes, and the clover is out so at least our yard is green, but we’re definitely in that transition period.

It’s a time when it’s kind of hard to believe spring is ever really going to come. We’re all full of hopeful watching and waiting, just like the little boy in the story And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Caldecott winner Erin E. Stead.

The book is one long sentence, taking readers and the boy from “first you have brown, all around you have brown” through the planting of seeds, the hopeful watching and waiting, the worry that your seeds won’t grow and finally to the new green world of spring.

My Review

The pictures in this book are adorable, as the boy is joined in his waiting by his dog (who “plants” his bone), a rabbit waiting for carrots to grow, a turtle and several birds. You’ll enjoy reading this one over and over to catch all the little details, like the boy progressively wearing less clothing as it gets warmer and the animals playing around on the pages.

It’s a sweet little story that captures how we all feel this time of year, waiting for the weeks to tick by until it really looks and feels like spring.

This is my favorite page:

“bears can’t read signs that say things like ‘please do not stomp here — there are seeds and they are trying.'” Love that!

The Bit’s Review

The girl really likes this book. We got it last year around this time (I saw a review from my online colleague Elizabeth Kennedy, who has a great site about children’s books) but she didn’t really get into it back then. This year she went through a period of wanting to read it every day, and she shares the same hope for spring that the little boy has.

She can’t wait to start a garden (we have to wait until our backyard landscaping is done) and is happy to see things greening up again. Just like the rest of us.

This book is a good reminder that spring will actually happen, we just have to be really, really patient.

Here’s a little video from the publisher that will give you a closer look.

Read any good books lately? I’d love to hear about them.