Red is Red is Red. It's a color--a color associated with Christmas, Valentine's Day, the brightest crayon in the box.

But for a little lost fox searching for his mother, there are many reds in his long journey.

Dark red is the deepening color of his coat in the darkening forest in the approach of twilight. It is a lighter red in the light of the sunrise on his coat. Red is the color of rising fear as he wanders through the woods looking for home, the bright red reflectors of the railroad crossing warning in the headlights of a green truck, the old red of gone-wild roses on a fence around a house where a boy stops his ballgame to stare at him. It's the color of wet soil turning into red mud in the rain, and the danger of rusty nails in a wooden fence.

It's the color of blood on his hurt foot, and of the autumn leaves and the tempting fallen apples on the other side of a chain link fence, and it is the sad color of an old brick wall in his way. It is the tempting red of a piece of meat inside a catch cage, and the red of rage and anxiety when he is captured.

But it is also the warm feeling of trust, as a girl sets him free, and the warmth of his mother's happy love as she finds him at last.

Red is the color of many emotions, in Caldecott author-illustrator Laura Vaccaro Seeger's latest picture book, Red (Holiday House, 2021), the third of her series of stories of evocative colors blended with a family's history, Blue and Green.

Deep and moving, this trilogy is filled with expressionistic acrylic paintings done on a lovely textured surface that opens up the emotional involvement of young readers. With a simple easy-to-read text filled with feeling, the Wall Street Journal's reviewer says, "Laura Vaccaro Seeger has wrought meaning and serendipity from the permutations of a single hue". As an affecting series of family life and a delicately realized introduction to the symbolism of color, this one should not be missed.

Laura Vaccaro Seeger is also a Caldecott Medal winner for her illustrations in Green and First the Egg (Caldecott Honor Book and Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book (Awards)). (See reviews here).

A Friend In Deed! The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

Fox and Chick are friends. Fox is accommodating to his young friend's ideas, but Chick comes up with some unusual requests. For example, one day Chick goes over to visit Fox and has a strange suggestion.

"FOX, YOU SHOULD THROW ME A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY TODAY."

Fox logically points out he can't have a surprise party for Chick if Chick already knows about it. So Chick promises to forget all about the party. Fox agrees and tells Chick to come back in the afternoon. Chick asks why he should return then.

"SEE? I ALREADY FORGOT!" HE SAYS.

But Chick doesn't forget that to remind Fox that he wants a party with a chocolate cake with round pink sprinkles and no party hats.

Fox goes along with the plan--so well that when Chick arrives for his party, Fox keeps a straight face.

"WHAT SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY, CHICK?"

"I'M SO SAD! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FORGOT!" SAD CHICK SNIFFLES.

"SURPRISE! SHOUTS FOX.

The party guests appear at the door with Fox, who proudly holds up a big chocolate care with pink sprinkles! Chick is pleased: he observes that it's exactly what he would want, if it were his birthday, which it's not!

"WELL, THAT IS A SURPRISE," SAYS THE UNFLAPPABLE FOX.

And in Sergio Ruzzier's second beginning reader book in this series, Fox and Chick: The Sleepover: and Other Stories, done in the dry deadpan humor style of the beloved Arnold Lobel's award-winning Frog and Toad are Friends series, there are two more droll tales about these two unlikely friends--"The Sleepover" and "The Hammer," in which the patient Fox plays adult straight man to the hapless noodle juvenile character played by Chick, set in comic frames with speech balloons that entice early readers.

Says Booklist, "In pleasing and often amusing illustrations, Ruzzier motivate[s] beginning readers with the dual reward of verbal and visual humor. Original storytelling with quirky, character-driven humor.

Pair this one with Ruzzier's earlier Fox & Chick: The Quiet Boat Ride: and Other Stories, see my review here.

Friends 4-Ever? The Party and Other Stories (Fox and Chick) by Sergio Ruzzier

Fox is happily harvesting his garden, thoughts of a hearty homemade soup ahead, when Chick appears, ready, as ever, to opine.

"Foxes are supposed to eat field mice, not carrots!"

"I don't like to eat field mice," Fox answers amiably.

Fox moves on to his onion and potato patch. Chick persists in his lecture, remarking pointedly that foxes are supposed to eat frogs and moles, not onions and potatoes, and adds grasshoppers, chipmunks, squirrels, lizards, and little birds to his list of appropriate foxy foods. Fox looks lustily at Chick with an appropriately toothy grin.

"Little birds??"

Ooops! Chick makes himself suddenly scarce, as Fox exits, chuckling slyly, page right, with his veggies in his basket.

In the title story, "The Party," Fox is reading happily inside his cozy cottage when Chick knocks loudly, asking to use his bathroom. Fox politely shows him to the proper door and is soon lost again in his book. Much later he notices that hours have passed and after inquiring politely he opens the door, finding the window open (and broken) and Chick hosting a riotous pool party in his bathtub for some invading frogs, mice, a duck or two, and a mole. Fox indignantly shows the invaders to the front door.

"I guess he didn't mean it when he said I could use his bathroom," Chick complains.

In his latest about his unlikely pair, Fox and Chick: The Party: and Other Stories (Chronicle Books, 2018), this inspired installment in his series about that odd couple of frienemies hits all the marks for beginning readers. Ruzzier brings back his unlikely duo, the patient, no-drama, straight man Fox, the foil for his thoughtless and downright goofy neighbor Chick. Ruzzier perfectly captures the trope of the patient, long-suffering friend and his persistent preschooler-ish partner, delineated so well in Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad easy readers and Bonnie Becker's A Visitor for Bear (Bear and Mouse) and sequels. Artist Ruzzier's graphic skills are evident in his minimalist drawings, in which a few deft lines impart expression flawlessly. Despite Fox's understated, stoical reserve set against Chick's loopy just-hatched cluelessness, Ruzzier's narration has an easy, wry sophistication, abetted by his comic book-styled framed illustrations which pace the story for maximum giggle quotients, great for read-alouds or for early readers alike.

Stranger Danger? Click, Clack, Moo I Love You! by Doreen Cronin

IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY ON THE FARM.

But for the head honcho, Farmer Brown, it's first things first. His wheelbarrow, shovel, fork, and hay bales await him early in the morning, keeping the pigs clean (as if!) and the donkey happy. And to keep everyone safe from marauding foxes, he mends the fences.

Farmer Brown does his work, while Little Duck takes charge of the party planning:

SHE TIED BALLOONS TO ... EVERYTHING! SHE HUNG STREAMERS TO... EVERYTHING!

And it's heavy on the paint, glitter and glue with piles of Valentines for everyone on the farm. Little Duck looks like a walking Valentine herself, with paint and glitter all over. But soon Farmer Brown's work and the festive preparations are done, and it's time to PAR-TY!

Little Duck, the hostess with the mostest, meets the guests at the door with Valentines for everyone. Someone cranks up some hoedown music, while the fashionably late sheep head straight for the chips and salsa. The pigs do the porcine polka and the poultry begin to boogie down doin' that chicken dance. Even the barn mice do the hustle. Then the cows show up, bringing a banner touting their alternative shindig.

JOIN US AT THE SECOND ANNUAL DIVINE BOVINE BALL.
FORMAL ATTIRE, PLEASE!

Everybody is busy doin' their own thing. The party is cookin' and rustic fiddle music floats out of the barn and across the starry fields.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE, AT THE TOP OF THE HILL, LITTLE FOX HEARD THE MUSIC. SHE CALLED: YIP, YIP, YIP!

NOBODY ANSWERED. BUT THERE WAS A TRAIL OF VALENTINES TO FOLLOW.

Now, the guests don't exactly welcome a party-crashing fox, not even one with a Valentine trailing from her tail. The chickens freeze in mid-flap. The pigs' trotters stop in their tracks. The sheep cease in mid-munch. And all the mice hustle for their holes, hoping not to become fox hors 'd'oeuvres.

It's an awkward fox-in-the-hen-house moment.

But Little Duck has one handmade Valentine left, and as she graciously hands it to Little Fox with a warm welcome, the party returns to full swing, with everyone trying out the fox trot!

EVERYBODY DANCES WITH EVERYBODY UNTIL...

THE COWS CAME HOME!

It's quite a mixer at the Valentine's Day dance down on the farm, in Doreen Cronin's newest in her beloved bucolic series, Click, Clack, Moo I Love You! (A Click, Clack Book) (Atheneum, 2017). Cronin's sweet story welcomes the spirit of St. Valentine's Day with warmth and humor, and Betsy Lewin's rustic watercolor illustrations of farm critters making merry are as cute and charming as ever. School Library Journal says, "The economical text maximizes impact while giving the illustrations plenty of space to tell the story," and Publishers Weekly adds, "Cronin subtly passes along some sage advice: the best parties have an element of the unexpected."

Cronin and Lewin are, of course, the creators of the top-selling series which began with Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (A Click, Clack Book) (read reviews here.)

Whose Hatchlings Are They? Daddy Honk Honk! by Rosalinde Bonnet

IT IS THE END OF SUMMER IN THE ARCTIC. SNOW WILL SOON COVER THE TUNDRA.

EVERYONE IS ENJOYING THE LAST SUNNY DAYS.

Aput the Arctic fox is catching those last warm rays, feeling his fur grow warm as he lies on his back and sleepily watches the Canada geese flocking up to fly south, Suddenly he spots something left behind.

It's a speckled goose egg, slow to hatch.

But when Aput picks it up, the shell cracks right down the middle and a tiny blue goose pokes his head out, opens his eyes, sees Aput, and says...

"DADDY HONK HONK!"

Yep. Baby geese imprint on the first thing they see, and for this gosling, Aput is his parent! The fox's first response is to protest.

"I AM NOT YOUR DADDY!"

But the baby goose is a total cutie, and Aput is charmed. He sets off to find the gosling a family and fortunately, there are plenty of other tundra sunbathers who are all too eager to give him parental advice. A mother lemming is up to her eyebrows with babies, but she does have an extra fuzzy pink cap to offer, pointing out that it is very important to keep new babies warm. Olaf and Lilly the musk oxen offer some seedy grass to feed the baby, and the gosling chows down right away.

"DADDY CHOMP CHOMP!"

Nanook the Polar Bear is trying to do her morning yoga meditation. She's annoyed by the honking, and suggests that Aput needs to put that baby down for a nap posthaste. As Aput makes his charge a grassy cradle, Granny Puffin puts in her two-cents' worth of parental advice.

"YOU SHOULD ROCK HIM!" SHE SUGGESTS.

But the gosling is too excited to sleep, and seeing someone in the water, she jumps in, right on the belly of a sleeping walrus and slides down his tummy into the sea, which she takes to like an, er, gosling to water. Soon she is joined by a young narwhal, and the pool party begins.

"DADDY SPLISH SPLASH!"

"YOU MUST ALWAYS KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BABY!" CAUTIONS EDDA THE WHALE, FLIPPING THE BABY BACK TO APUT WITH HER FLUKE.

Finally the baby goose begins to tucker out, and Aput pulls out Andersen's Wild Swans as a bedtime story. All his friends gather round to listen as the sun sets over the tundra. It is a lovely scene.

"THIS BABY NEEDS A BEAUTIFUL NAME!" THEY ALL AGREE.

And Aurora it is, as the no-longer orphaned gosling settles down, surrounded by her new family, in Rosalinde Bonnet's charming Daddy Honk Honk! (Dial Books, 2017). This tale of accidental parenthood has a lot to say about being a father and about being an adoptive parent, but also about how it often "takes a village" to provide all a young one needs to grow up. Bonnet's story is humorous, filled with a recurring chorus of "Daddy Honk Honks," and a plentitude of advice from Aput's opinionated neighbors, but there's a warm reassurance for youngsters that little Aurora will have everything she needs to grow in her new home.

Bonnet's artwork is simple, done mostly in blackline drawings that border on the minimal, contrasted with the bright colors of flowers in the background. Illustrator Bonnet paces the story with cartoon-paneled pages set against contrasting full two-page spreads which show off the blooming tundra, the setting sun over the ocean, and the blended blues and greens of the northern lights that give little Aurora her name, or as Publishers Weekly puts it succinctly, "The ink-and-watercolor drawings are a mixture of atmospheric minimalism and impressive detail." This is a sweet story of love lost and found that fortuitously ends with the baby sleeping soundly for a very good goodnight.

Share this story with Ryan T. Higgins' hilarious hatchling goose hit, Mother Bruce (see review here.)

Goldengrove's Unleaving: Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson

Each morning when Fletcher bounded out of the den, everything seemed just a little bit different. The rich green of summer was turning to dusty gold.

And Fletcher the little fox becomes disturbed about what is happening to his favorite tree.

"I think my tree is sick," said Fletcher. "What is wrong?"

"Don't worry. It's just autumn," said his mother.

The tree's leaves are turning russet and brown, and when the first one falls, Fletcher runs to catch the leaf and poke it back into the tree trunk. But the cold wind soon sends many more of the leaves whirling down and away.

"Don't worry, tree. I'll catch them for you!" Fletcher promises.

But Fletcher can't keep up with the swirling, falling leaves that spin out of sight. He sees that he cannot keep his promise to the tree. At last only one leaf clings to a twig. When it falls, he sadly takes it home and makes it a cozy little place to sleep.

But just before dawn Fletcher wakes and tiptoes outside where the tree stands cold and alone.

But it's not bare; in the moonshine, Fletcher sees that his tree is hung with shimmering icicles that twinkle like the starlight.

In Julia Rawlingson's Fletcher and the Falling Leaves (Greenwillow Books, 2016, rev. ed.), the author wisely lets little Fletcher experience fully both the grief of the changes time inevitably brings and yet the hope for what is to come. In this revised paperback edition, the artist Tiphanie Beeke aptly offers lovely new impressionistic illustrations, done in softly pointillist watercolor style, with an emotional depth that heightens the punch of Rawlinson's premise and with her final page filled with a glowing illustration of the bare but beautiful, shimmering tree, perhaps a promise of the yet unspoken spring to come. Says School Library Journal, "Picture books about nature sometimes suffer from cloying, excessively pastoral language or imagery; this rare example succumbs to neither." And Kirkus Reviews adds, "A poetic tribute to winter and fall.... sure to resonate with young readers."

Rawlinson's other sensitive stories of the seasons are Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms, and Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas.