And Then It's Spring

And Then It's Spring is a simple story about...well, spring. It begins, "First you have brown, all around you have brown...", and follows a boy as he plants seeds, hopes for rain, waits and waits...and then it's spring. 

The illustrations really carry the story. The text describes what the atmosphere is like--brown, rain, greenish hum--but it's in the illustrations that you see the boy, his dog, the turtle with the little red cap on, and the bears pulling up "please do not stomp here--there are seeds and they are trying" signs.

I'll be honest: I must have been in a bad mood when I read this book the first time. I didn't like it at all. But the second time, I loved it, and I've loved it just as much every time since.  


And Then It's Spring
Written by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Erin E. Stead
Age range*: 2-5
My rating: 5 stars [out of five]

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: The books reviewed here are books that I own or that have been checked out from the local library. The links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links.