Rhyming couplets celebrate the activities that fill each season of the year and the love that ties them all together. Beginning and ending with autumn, readers follow a mother and son cat in the course of their year: geese taking flight and leaf raking, snowflakes and sled rides, flowers and kite flying, bees buzzing and swimming. Repeated throughout and building toward the ending is the message that the child is loved: “I love you as the seasons flow-- / and I can watch you change and grow. / I’ll always love you, and hold you dear, / through all the seasons of the year.” Chorao’s gouache, colored pencil and ink illustrations are peopled with other animal pairings that may call to mind Richard Scarry’s animal characters. Full of charming details and gorgeous colors, the love between each parent/child pair is obvious, and readers may find themselves wishing to share the same activities with a beloved adult of their own. (Picture book. 3-6)
