WINTER HOLDING SPRING

A portrait of 11-year-old Sarah and her father in the year after her mother's death, focusing on the conversations they have about learning to live with their loss. Beginning in the summer, each season holds a promise for the next: a single yellow leaf in summer, the first daffodil spears in February, and--in a quietly understated longer prospect--Sarah as someone who may also be a mother. The poetic narration here is graceful and touching, the picture is true to real emotions--even though the inevitable negative side (anger, guilt) is omitted--and the incidents are well selected for their symbolic and psychological purposes. There's no real plot, but the gentle story does what it sets out to do: suggest that even death may result in growth and understanding that might not otherwise have occurred. Himler's soft, b&w illustrations reflect the text's mood of sorrow and affection.