Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Each season's traits are captured through snapshots of firsts and lasts in this change-forward chronicle by Schubert and Robin. In cut-paper collage scenes, a pale-skinned cast plays in the melting snow and revels among emerging greenery. Among other things, Schubert suggests, spring embodies "the last time we hear 'Snow day!' " and "the first time we see new grass." Summer, in turn, features the end of shut windows and the start of "june bugs hitting screens," autumn is a time for final ice cream cones and first bowls of soup, and a last winter playground visit is followed by the year's inaugural hot chocolate. Schubert's indicative descriptions combine with Robin's textured portraits for a nostalgic ode focusing on weather in the global north. Ages 4--8. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K--This is a book about transitions, removed from the calendar and attached to the way children move through the years. The story opens with muted cut-paper collage, in the soft colors of late March before spring bursts out, providing an unsparing look at the "lasts" of winter's grip: snow days, melting and muddy drifts, but also the "first glimpse" of green sprouts pushing up, and as spring arrives, the first game of catch, and the first flowers. Here comes summer, and it's the "last" of the days for flannel sleepwear, and a personal changing season: the last time the "we" who narrates uses training wheels to cycle. There is bliss with each turn of the page, as the pastel hues of spring give way to a summer riot of deeper colors; with fall, the pages turn orange and gold for a last trip to the ice cream stand. One observation per page, and changing perspectives visually and philosophically, give a dynamism to the primitive but relatable forms. The family reads as white, the setting perhaps New England. VERDICT For any classroom lesson on seasons, this will inspire children to make lists of their own, to note those "lasts" and look forward to more "firsts." A lovely work.--Kimberly Olson Fakih
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A celebration of the harbingers and vestiges of seasonal change. Beginning with spring, each of the four temperate seasons is introduced by a double-page montage of seasonally specific images to prompt discussion and sharpen predictive skills. For example, "spring is…" tulips and daffodils, birds' nests, planting seeds, rainbows after a rain shower, etc. The main thrust of the text, however, is its description of activities associated with the transitions between seasons. Summer's arrival, for instance, marks "the last time we wear flannel pajamas, // the last time we sleep with the windows closed," and so on. A plethora of sensory details highlights the joys of a simple, but rich, childhood--splashing in mud puddles, learning to ride a bicycle without training wheels, the sound of June bugs hitting window screens, being "too hot to move," enjoying the last ice cream cone from a seasonal stand, and the "silence of snow." Activities like bird-watching, gardening, biking, and insect investigation model active living. Robin's cut-paper collages are charmingly old-fashioned yet still feel relevant and fun, and they use color palettes that shift with the seasons. The story is set in a small rural town, and all characters appear White. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Seasonal rituals come alive in this by turns bittersweet and joyful ode to beginnings and endings. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
