Masterfully captures that nebulous time when spring feels simultaneously imminent and worlds away. A seasonal triumph.
Henkes answers the question on everyone’s lips and within everyone’s hearts each winter.
“Is it spring?” Some signs indicate yes: the flowers down the street, the buds on the trees, the birds in the sky. But wait! An opposing opinion comes from the wind, “turning icy and sharp.” The gray clouds swoop in, and the sleepy animals stay in their homes. “Is it spring?” A late snow bedecking the tulips gives a resounding “No, no, no!” “Will it ever be spring?” This time the affirmative comes from the very sun itself, “warming the wind and melting the snow and calling the animals out of their dark homes.” “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Henkes leans into the frustration experienced by both children and adults yearning for green grasses and balmier days. Relying on minimal yet well-chosen words and elegantly crafted art, he beautifully evokes the betrayal many feel when snow unexpectedly returns; the pinks, purples, and greens that appear in scenes of flowers, grasses, buildings, and benches are often obscured by thick layers of snow. Henkes deftly allows color to work its magic on readers’ emotions; even the shifting hues of the page backgrounds behind the titular refrain are well chosen.
Masterfully captures that nebulous time when spring feels simultaneously imminent and worlds away. A seasonal triumph. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780063469259
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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