Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 2^-5, younger for reading aloud. Similar in format to Schnur's Autumn (1998), this volume features one illustrated acrostic on each page. For instance, the word grass appears vertically in purple, but reading horizontally the lines read "Green leaves overhead, a / Rug of green underfoot, / And the air between / Sweet with the green / Smell of spring." Evans' artwork is outlined in black, making the rich colors appear jewel-like and full of light. Schnur's best acrostics are fresh and imaginative, distilling the essence of the season in a few brief lines and images. An attractive book, sure to be used in many classrooms, sometimes as an alphabet book, sometimes as an evocation of spring, sometimes as a model for student writing. --Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Schnur and Evans have combined their considerable talents to create a picture book that is both innovative and lovely. Done in the form of acrostics, the poems are a visual as well as a literary delight. Their style is simple, yet capable of evoking myriad images and feelings, similar in many ways to haiku. For example, in "Dawn": "Day breaks early now/And quickly/Warms after a cool/Night." The linoleum-cut illustrations are rich in detail and vibrant with spring tones. Easily as successful as this team's previous collaboration, Autumn (Clarion, 1997), this book could be used effectively with any unit on seasons or as a study of literary re-creations in combination with Bonnie Christensen's Rebus Riot (Dial, 1997). It will also spring off the shelf on its own.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
An alphabetical listing of springtime's sights, sounds, and emotions is recorded in brief blocks of text that form engaging acrostics. Read vertically, the first letter of each line spells out the seasonal word being described, such as kites, seeds, and twilight. The evocative free verse captures the season's promise, as do the colorful block-print illustrations. From HORN BOOK Fall 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The team behind Autumn (1997) turns russet in for a spring-green coat in this paean that moves from April to June. Once again, the first letters of each line make a word that is the subject of the poem, e.g., ``Green leaves overhead, a/Rug of green underfoot,/And the air between/Sweet with the green/Smell of spring'' for GRASS. That page is a particularly fine microcosm of the book; the delicate poem, direct and detailed, appears on a page where the strong line of linoleum-cut illustration brings into relief a field of green seen from above, where the bold shapes of a girl and her dog lay on their backs to gaze up at the new leaves. There are longer words, too, such as ``quintuplets,'' delighting in five new kittens. Many of the images are rural: frogs, cows, a baseball game ringed by a field of corn. Others'hopscotch, welcoming a new baby, and watching the light fade to purple fire'will be familiar and comfortable to children everywhere. A playful refabrication of spring, likely to please as a word game, certain to please for its images. (Picture book. 3-9)
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