A richly illustrated view of the seasons through haiku.
First-time author Farrar here teams up with the Caldecott Honor–winning Plume (The Bremen Town Musicians, 1980, etc.) to capture signature poetic snapshots of the four seasons.
While global warming may make these 13 haiku noting distinctions among the seasons ever more historical as the years continue to come round, the evocative scenes Farrar paints are sure to inspire young readers to note cyclical changes in the natural world. And just in case these wonderfully imagistic poetic kernels or Plume’s warm, lushly hued watercolors miss their mark, readers can always turn to Farrar’s prose expositions on time and the seasons at the volume’s end. But the tight marriage of word and image present in the majority of these double-page spreads should render that explanatory annex unnecessary. Farrar excels in choosing natural elements and events that prove quintessentially seasonal. “Like tiny fallen / stars, fireflies quietly blink / their secrets at dusk” suggests the magical depth of a summer’s twilight without needing a syllable more. Similarly, Plume’s exquisite artistry renders a slightly more complex winter poem—“Each windowpane’s a / masterpiece, personally / signed: Your Friend, Jack Frost”—accessible through its abstract amalgam of blue, gray and white icy designs. Plume smartly avoids the temptation to overcompensate for the spareness of these 17-syllable works, lending to Farrar’s year outdoors graphic dimensions as vibrant as nature itself.
A richly illustrated view of the seasons through haiku. (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8075-8129-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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