Signs of Spring! My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell

When is spring?

It depends. For some it's the first crocus in January. For some it's tearing off that January calendar page. Depending on where you live, it's the first tufts of green grass peeping out of the melting snow, or planting peas, or the first green daffodil shoot piercing the brown, wet leaves. For some it's switching to a lighter jacket and stowing the mittens away. For some it's blooming dogwoods or redbuds or magnolia trees.

But for some, all those preliminaries are not THE sign of spring.

EVERY DAY LAST SUMMER, A ROBIN SANG FOR ME. I LIKED THAT ROBIN.

BUT IN THE FALL, MY ROBIN FLEW AWAY.

The girl waits expectantly for her robin to return and make this a real spring. She sees the first bee, and the first crocuses. She sees the forsythia bush burst into little yellow blooms, a tiny baby frog in a bunch of daffodils, some fiddlehead ferns unfurling, a fat worm squirming, and a cat napping in the warm sun. She picks a bouquet of violets for her mom. But...

I DIDN'T SEE MY ROBIN.

But then, she hears a familiar song....

CHEER UP, CHERILEE!

And now, it's beginning to look a lot like spring in Anne Rockwell's classic seasonal picture book, My Spring Robin, filled with those "signs of spring" beloved of primary teachers and (admit it!) all of us. Whether spring begins for you in February or May, whatever your favorite sign, the one that makes you believe that winter is at last really pastis, it is a big day! For me, it's a row of those daffodils in the sun, "tossing their heads in sprightly dance," and for some it's the clever robin who times his or her return just right to miss the last freezing night. With illustrations by her family, Harlow and Lizzie Rockwell, this one has most of the signs kids count up in either the text or in the illustrations of the girl's parents doing "spring things." Share this one with Caldecott-winner Kevin Henkes' When Spring Comes. (See my review here.)