It's spring, and the birds are singing, "each tweet poking/ a tiny hole/ through the edge of winter." A fashionably bundled-up girl lies stomach-down on the snow to get a nose-to-nose look at a crocus blooming up through the icy whiteness: "a tiny, blue hello."
In When Green Becomes Tomatoes, Julie Fogliano (And Then It's Spring; If You Want to See a Whale) presents her playful, breathtaking poems as journal entries, organized by season for a full year. It's genius. Spring is "muddy mud," "one blue mitten," "the forever rushing daffodils/ wished they had waited" and "everyone is soggy/ but the sometimes sun/ is just enough/ for a robin." Summer is "when green becomes tomatoes" and "those peanut butter sandwiches/ a little bit salty/ and warm from the sun." Fall is "waiting for sweaters," "where notebooks are new" and "pumpkin toss/ pumpkin out/ pumpkin someday/ pumpkin sprout." Winter is an old green bike "suddenly beautiful/ with snow on top." In Fogliano's skillful hands, the sights, smells, tastes and sounds of the unfolding seasons reflect fleeting pleasures, joy and melancholy, discovery and loss, anticipation.
Julie Morstad (Julia, Child; This Is Sadie; Swan) invites readers along on Fogliano's beautiful year-long journey with winsome, pleasingly textured scenes in gouache and pencil crayon. Children of many colors tromp through fields, swim, dig in the sand, play in leaves... and creatures from squirrels to cows populate this vibrant, dynamic world where strawberries are furious and butterflies are anxious, depending on the season. Say yes. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness