Review Detail

As the story opens, Ivy is a little girl surrounded by winters gloom. But with the help of classic poetry by Dickinson, Longfellow, Browning, Wordsworth, Frost, and many others, she experiences the changing of the seasons into a beautiful eruption of spring color. Vanita Oelschlagers sweet rhymes at the beginning of the book blend seamlessly with the pages that follow, featuring famous lines such as e.e. cummings description of spring as mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful. The colors in this delightful picture book slowly evolve from strictly dull (winter) to the joyous explosion of flowers in springtime.

The illustrations by Kristin Blackwood are at first in shades of gray and brown, and then erupt into colors like spring blossoms. Combining block prints and watercolors, her illustrations are a playful, delightful praise of spring.

One of the wonderful features of this book is the bibliography at the end, in which you learn which famous poet contributed which lines to the story. The young poets in your life will love this book!