A spunky and imaginative heroine takes young readers from winter to fall in Nick Bruel's (Bad Kitty) picture book, with the pacing and energy of a comic book.
A yawning girl dressed in purple opens her front door to a snow-covered wonderland in "Part One: Winter Wear." Her mother advises, "You better wear your boots." Her father suggests earmuffs. Though her parents don't appear again, the remaining characters who suggest additional winter wear do: a dog ("You'd better wear your snowpants"), a cat, Louise the purple hippo, a tree and refrigerator. "Now go outside and have fun!" they all shout from the doorway. By the time she's fully attired, the snow has melted and the trees are in full leaf. In "Spring Splendor," the girl sings the season's praises, dressed in a tutu and wielding a magic wand. She and her dog make "a happy duo,/ A jolly pair are we!" But their high-octane chanting and pretending (portrayed in a series of vertical panels) brings out the Bad Kitty in the family cat, attempting to nap under a tree. One of the most original comics panel sequences involves the heroine melting in "Summer Sidewalks." Louise the purple hippo figures out how to save her (hint: it involves the freezer).
The finale, "Fall Foliage," steers toward metafiction, as the girl reads this very book to the tree (introduced in the opening). Its leaves turn brown, then fall like chocolate flakes in Bruel's collage illustrations. A celebration for all seasons. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness