No Matter What the Weather: More Than Sunny! by Shelley Johannes

"IT'S EARLY!" GRUMBLES LITTLE BROTHER."

"IT'S SUNNY AND BIRDY" COAXES BIG SISTER."

She hustles her sibling into a spring jacket and outside beside the pond, where he complains...

"MUCKY!"

"IT'S SUNNY AND DUCKY!"...

. . . Sister counters, as a proud Mama Duck and a long line of little ducklings strut by.

And spring blows through as if on one long breezy day, until suddenly one warm sunny day, the siblings realize it's summer. Little Brother whines!

"IT'S MUGGY!" AND BUGGY!"

But as Shakespeare says, "Summer's lease hath all too short a stay."

As summer races by, the kids have fun, collecting caterpillars and worms and wishfully fishing and not catching fish, waiting out stormy, steamy, summer rain showers, suiting up in yellow slickers and boots, catching squirmy worms in the mud, and before they know it, summer melts away, to be replaced by whooshy winds and nervous, fussy, busy squirrels storing up acorns for the winter. And on one gray, cloudy day, they wave goodbye to the geese sailing by, heading south. And then it's. . .

"WINTER. AND WAITY!"

The two kids color and cut out Christmas decorations to hang from the windows with red yarn and watch at the windows for snowflakes to catch and melt on their tongues. And then it is snowy, and ready for sledding and chilling and spilling and then watching at their dark windows. . . .

And with a shushed sneaking downstairs to step out on the porch, they see... their very own falling star.

It's the grand finale of one more joyful trip around the sun to celebrate those blessed seasons of childhood, in Shelley Johannes' delightful latest, More Than Sunny (Abrams Books, 2021). It's all good weather to be together, and rain or shine, it's all fine!

Author Johannes' descriptive pairs of rhyming adjectives are as bouncy as the big sister's two ponytails, leading the way through the seasons, and artist Johannes' charming illustrations in pencil and mixed media are as lively and bright as the two young siblings in a sweet salute of the seasons, from spring glow to falling snow, late and lovely.

Says Publishers Weekly, "Breezy and buzzy/ summer and fuzzy!” transitions to “winter.../ and waity” before a sweet close focuses on a turnaround—and the night sky. Dynamic art rendered in pencil and mixed media on tracing paper and finished digitally matches the text’s energy in this charming seasonal perusal."

What Do We Want? WE WANT SNOW: A Wintry Chant by Jamie A. Swenson

"WE WANT SNOW--UP TO OUR ANKLES...,

"SHINS..., KNEES..., AND CHINS!"

The kids are ready; they want the whole nine yards of the snow season.

But so far the winter sky watch has been a bust. Their snow watch is a fluke, for heaven's sake! But, Wait!

"A FLAKE!"

And do the kids get their wish!

They pile on their sleds, dachshunds and all, slipping and sliding down the hill. They make snow forts and have a snowball fight. This is the way to do winter right! Snowmen grow fat and tall with woolly mittens and puffy coats for all. Ice skates and skiis are sure to please. Kids and dogs, and grownups, too, play outside until their noses turn blue.

And then, they have a different thought.

"WE WANT COCOA--PIPING HOT!"

"WITH MARSHMALLOWS--WE WANT A LOT!"

But ... as the wintry days continue and the weather remains windy, dark, and cold... the kids' desire for snow days begins to grow old.

"WHOA! BRRRRRRR! TOO MUCH SNOW!"

"SNOW IN OUR HAIR AND UNDERWEAR...."

And snow keeps coming everywhere.

It seems that there can be ... TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING!

"HOW ABOUT AN EARLY SPRING?"

Jamie A. Swenson's just-in-time chiming, rhyming, loving salute to snowtime, We Want Snow: A Wintry Chant (Sleeping Bear Press, 2021) is a joy to read for kids who can't wait for the white stuff to fall.

Swenson's clever rhyming storytelling, matched to the jolly illustrations of Emilie Boon, make this one an irresistible read-aloud story and a charming performance script for Christmas parties and parent programs, with the winsome warning that it's perhaps good that snowy days and nights, despite their lively delights and charming good cheer, don't last all year!

Poet Percy Shelley's longing got it about right! "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

We can only hope so!!

The Year Goes Round: The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons

IT IS SPRING.

Arnold's apple tree is his secret place. It is warm and he sees that there are buds on all the twigs. And soon the buds open to reveal sweet-smelling apple blossoms. He picks a few branches to take home for a bouquet arrangement. Arnold puts up a swing on one of his tree's strongest branches and swings as high as the blossoms. And then...

IT IS SUMMER.

Arnold builds a tree house among the branches, partly hidden among the green leaves that grow thick under the warm sun. Some of the blossom begin to turn into small green apples which grow bigger every day. Arnold juggles some of them. And then their color begins to change. And all too soon...

IT IS FALL.

The hard green apples begin to turn red, and the green leaves turn golden and fall for Arnold to rake, and when he shakes the tree, ripe red apples drop all around him. Arnold collect the apples in baskets and takes them home, where he his parents make apple pies and cider in their cider press. Arnold decorates a few apples for Halloween. And finally...

IT IS WINTER.

The apple tree's branches are bare again, so Arnold makes popcorn strings to decorate it and to feed the birds. When it snows, he builds a snowman under the tree and a snow fort to surround his tree. But one day the snow begins to melt and soon...

IT'S SPRING AGAIN.

Arnold's own apple tree is a literary evergreen, taking youngsters through a study of the seasons for decades, in Gail Gibbons' classic, The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Highly reviewed and enduring, this study of a year in the person of one child and one tree is perfect for preschool and primary students just beginning their study of science as evidenced in the science of the annual cycle of the seasons, illustrated by the author in charming illustrations and a sturdy boy who grows through the year as well. Embedded in the story are a recipe for apple pie and a diagram of how a cider press works. Share this one with Gibbons' companion book, Apples.

Moments to Remember! A Year of Everyday Wonders by Cheryl B. Klein

First Wake-Up of the Year.

It's Janaury 1. The tree outside the sleepy girl's window is leafless, as dry leaves drift by, blown by a wintry wind. Dad escorts her sleepy older brother, still in his PJs, toward the kitchen, where New Year's waffles are on the menu. Soon her brother is awake and flipping a piece of waffle her way from a spoon, for their First Fuss of the year.

The First Snow follows, with the First Snow Day, and as soon as the two kids suit up, the First Snowball Fight occurs, just before the First Hot Chocolate of the Year.

Soon comes the First Valentine, a heart of red jam on her toast created by Mom. It's winter, so of course there's the First Sneeze, made more significant by the boy who smiles as he offers her his box of tissues, and she has her First Crush. Then, snow becomes rain, and she gets her First Umbrella, which is blown inside out in the March wind, to be followed by her Second Umbrella.

And then come the First Green Buds on the trees, the First Missed Bus, with the 97th Fuss of the year with her brother. There's her First Haircut, given by herself, and almost immediately the Second Haircut at the barber's. Along with warmer weather comes the First Ice Cream Cone, the First Beach Trip, followed immediately by the First Sunburn and the first Splash Battle. There are July 4 First Sparklers, and summer ends with the First Family Reunion and the First Exploding Cola Bottle assembled by the cousins.

All too soon it's that time, with her First New Teacher and Second Crush, the First Golden Leaves, and her Last Costume Cape on Halloween. And before they know it, there is a Snow Day and First Snowman, and another Snow Day, and another, and another, which prompts her 284th Fuss with her brother, and then it's time to sing her First "Silent Night" with the others, followed almost immediately by the Last Week, the Last Day, and the Last Stories and bedtime kiss on the Last Night of the Year/

But there's always the First Day of the next year with waffles, as true to form, her brother launches a chunk off his spoon at her--and perhaps fires off a New First Fuss for the New Year, in Cheryl B. Klein's A Year of Everyday Wonders (Abrams, 2020).

Essential to this book of few words are artist Qin Leng's affectionately humorous illustrations of the two kids making their way through a year made memorable by all the nostalgia-inducing sorts of things that adults fondly recall. Each event is given a page or double-page spread with plenty of details to induce page perusals. Told in vignettes of rather ordinary events, all together this picture book creates a moving but joyful tableau of days that all too soon become years past. Says School Library Journal's starred review, "Leng's effortless watercolor and ink illustrations pair with Klein's spare words on every page, showing the significance of everyday moments as the young girl grows and spends time with her family... Through detailed visual elements, this quietly delightful picture book speaks to the potential treasure of small moments in childhood."

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.)

The State of Matter Matters! The Luckiest Snowball by Eliot Kreloff

Izzy likes the snow. It's soft. It's cold.

You can pick it up, ... and throw it!

"WAIT! STOP!"

Izzy is immediately frozen in place.  Who is this talking to him?

It's the SNOWBALL!

"If you throw me--BLAM--it's the end of me!"

But Izzy's new friend, SNOWBALL, is fine with making snow angels, snow forts, and a snowman. The two new friends have a great snow play.

But it's getting dark and Izzy has to go home. He takes his special snowball inside to introduce him to his mom as Larry. But it's warm in there! Larry notices that he's about to undergo a strange change of state.

"I'M MELTING!"

Emergency care for melting snowballs calls for time in the freezer, where Larry finds good company among some sweet peas and cool ice cubes.

When spring comes, Izzy takes Larry outside to admire the all the fresh colors of the new season, but... and in a few minutes, Larry is... (you guessed it!)...

MELTING!

Whoops! It's back to the freezer, where Larry and the frozen asparagus spears reminisce about the growing season together. And then... it's summer, and Izzy carefully packs Larry in the cooler for an outing.

Larry enjoys the beach scene until...

HELP!

Izzy rushes Larry back to the freezer just in the nick of slush! Larry refreezes while the frozen blueberries wax sentimental about the day they were picked. And then, finally, it's fall!

Izzy takes Larry outside where the air is cool and the leaves are falling all around. But where did he go? At last the dripping Larry is found under the leaves and re-stashed in the freezer under the wing, so to speak, of a very large frozen turkey.

Then, at last it's winter again, in Eliot Kreloff's The Luckiest Snowball (Holiday House, 2019) It is time for Izzy and Larry to take sled rides together while new snowflakes fall, in Eliot Kreloff's jolly story of the seasons. Winter is where Larry belongs, but human kids get to live and have fun in all four seasons, and Larry the Unlikely playmate stars in comic illustrations of the fun of all the seasons. Author Kreloff includes a brief appendix, explaining the cycle of the seasons and the water cycle as well, from water, to snowflake, to ice to melting water again.

For Everything There Is a Season: Almost Time by Gary D. Schmidt and Elizabeth Stickney

When Ethan had to eat his pancakes with applesauce instead of maple syrup one Sunday morning, he knew it was almost sugaring time.

"Is the sap running yet?" he asked.

Dad shook his head. "Not until the days get warmer."

But the days stay cold and the nights remain long. Dad tries buttered cornbread and oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, and at least one thing changes. Ethan chomps a walnut and discovers a loose tooth.

Still the weather stays cold and his tooth stays loose.

Now Ethan had two things to wait for.

Ethan notices that the sun seems to come up a little bit earlier, but his tooth is still loose--

until--

At lunchtime his tooth comes out and now he's got a surprise for his dad... and there is a surprise for Ethan when he gets off the school bus....

The sap is running. The maple trees are tapped and buckets are filling up, and it's sugaring off time for sure. Dad and Ethan carry in enough sap to boil up a batch of sweet syrup together.

And soon there's maple syrup for Ethan's Sunday pancakes, in Gary D. Schmidt's and Elizabeth Stickney's beautiful tale of the fullness of time, Almost Time (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion Books, 2020). Spring and maple syrup come in their own sweet time in this gentle tale of patience, wisdom, and pleasure in the cycles of the seasons and the enduring warmth of family life.

Newbery and Printz Award-winning author Schmidt paces this story perfectly for preschool and primary readers who are often impatient as they wait for good things to happen, and in his endearing mixed-media illustrations, artist G. Brian Karas slyly portrays the subtle changes in the turning of the season toward spring which young readers will no doubt spot before Ethan does. A perfect book about waiting for good things to happen and the cycle of the seasons of life.

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.

In Its Own Time! Waiting for Snow by Marsha Diane Arnold

Hedgehog found Badger staring at the sky.
"What are you doing, Badger?"

"Waiting for snow. It's winter and I haven't seen one snowflake."

Hedgehog counsels that he can't rush snow time, but for Badger, snow time is no time to wait patiently. He drags out some pots and pans and drums up some racket.

"Wake up, Sky! It's time for snow!"

No snow follows. Badger's friends come running and try to help.

Rabbit throws pebbles at the sky to poke some snow holes in the clouds. Rocks rain back down, but no snow falls.

Wise Hedgehog advises that things come in their own season, but the snow seekers aren't convinced. Vole suggests his granny's remedy, a snow dance.

They stomped and rocked.

They bopped and boogied.

But no twirling snowflakes show up to dance with them. Hedgehog urges forbearance, reminding his impatient friends that in due time the stars always come out and the sun also rises, but Possum cites an old superstition that sleeping in pajamas put on backwards will make it snow. Badger follows suit, putting his toy bunny and books backwards on his bookshelf for even more snow mojo, and climbs onto the foot of his bed for the night.

But in the morning it's no go for the snow.

Badger's friends try sifting sugar down on Badger's windowsill. But faux snow is no snow either.

There's nothing left for Badger's friends to do but make some fair weather fun for themselves while they wait.

For everything there is a season, in Marsha Diane Arnold's latest, Waiting for Snow (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), in which young snow-lovers learn that snow can come when you least expect it. Waiting is hard for youngsters. "As slow as Christmas" is an old simile that shows how long a wait for an long-anticipated holiday or first snowfall can seem to the youngest weather watchers. Arnold's gently humorous text portrays that eager expectancy, building a bit of suspense as times goes by, and noted artist Renata Liwska (see Deborah Underwood's The Quiet Book) offers softly portrayed, plushy animals in pencil drawings and muted hues that add the proper hush to the hoped-for final snow scene. Things come to those who wait, and Badger is rewarded at last with a chance to roll a huge snowball in the first snowfall of winter.

For a perfect pair of snow stories, share this one with Arnold's Lost. Found.

Changes, Changes! Goodbye, Summer, Hello, Autumn by Kenard Pak

Hello, chipmunks. Hello, beavers!

Hello! We have no time to play.

We are making cozy dens and nests.

It will be cold soon.

A girl in a bright scarf sets out from her doorstep. She walks through the woods, along a creek. The breeze is light and warm, but everything she sees--the trees, butterflies and foxes, blue jays--seem to be getting ready for something to happen. Even the few bright flowers know something is changing.

We are leaning into the sun, enjoying the last summer rays.

Some of us are late bloomers. We make the end of the summer more colorful.

As the girl moves out of the woods and into the town, she sees the storekeepers rolling up awnings, and passersby hurrying along as she hears a distant rumble of thunder. She greets the sudden whipping of the wind, and the wind answers, too.

Hello! I love to whoosh drizzle and leaves through the misty streets.

Back toward home the girl goes, noticing that the trees are indeed changing colors, the air is growing chill, and the persimmon-colored sun is setting earlier than before.

The season is changing before her eyes as she heads back homeward for a sweater, and it is truly time to say hello to autumn, in Kenard Pak's Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn (Henry Holt and Company, 2016). With his keen observations of the changing seasons and beautifully executed expressionistic watercolor illustrations, Pak uses the theme of the nature walk, seeking signs of fall, from insects to mammals, sunshine to chilly rain, and golden afternoon to early nightfall. This is a fine book for early childhood classes studying the cycle of the seasons, especially those planning to head out soon for their own "signs of fall" walk. Says School Library Journal, "A gentle, gorgeous welcome to summer's end and fall's beginning, perfect for storytime or one-on-one reading."

Coping with Change! The Thing about Spring by Daniel Kirk

"THE WORLD LOOKS A LITTLE DIFFERENT TODAY," MOUSE SAID ONE BRIGHT MORNING.

Ah! The first signs of spring!

Everybody loves them, right?

Apparently not in this forest. Mouse and Bird are rhapsodizing about budding trees and warmth in the air, but Rabbit is not at all pleased. With a sour expression, he is going about the meadow, scooping up the vestiges of melting snowdrifts into his pail. Mouse inquires about Rabbit's curious behavior.

"SAVING SNOW WHILE I CAN!" SAID RABBIT. "WE WON'T SEE ANY MORE OF THAT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!"

Some of us have problems with transitions, and Rabbit seems to be the only one in the woods who is going to miss snow. Ever the contrarian, he points out that snow helps him track down his friends, and it is useful for snow forts and snowball fights.

Bird points out that Rabbit won't be cold when spring comes, and besides, he and Mouse are not going anywhere anyway.

But Rabbit has another complaint.

"THE THING ABOUT SPRING IS THAT BEAR IS WAKING UP. I KNOW HOW BAD HE SMELLS AT THE END OF A LONG WINTER, AND I'M SURE HE'LL WANT A HUG."

And right on cue, a disheveled Bear appears, and Rabbit, holding his nose, suffers through a stinky embrace, just as a warm vernal drizzle begins to fall.

"THE THING ABOUT SPRING IS THAT IT RAINS WHEN YOU'RE NOT EXPECTING IT," RABBIT WHINGES.

But Bear replies that the falling rain is right on time to give him a good wash, as he pointedly scrubs his armpits.

But nothing about the change of the seasons pleases Rabbit. It's too noisy. Birds peep and squirrels chatter! It's all so annoying. Rabbit is all hot and bothered from the whole conversation.

And now he is thirsty!

Bear agrees that all this palaver is making him thirsty, too, giving Rabbit a chance to have the last word:

"WELL, THEN," SAID RABBIT, "YOU SHOULD BE GLAD I SAVED SOME SNOW. LOOK INSIDE MY PAIL!"

Daniel Kirk's newest tale, The Thing About Spring (Abrams Books, 2016), gives the curmudgeon in all of us a chance to complain about change. Story books are full of joyful rabbits and bouncy bunnies as the harbinger of spring, but Kirk turns the tables on our expectations with a truly funny bunny who takes a cranky stand in favor of snow. With delightfully wry dialog, he gives his Rabbit his moment in the sun, whether he likes it or not. Kirk's signature style of illustration, with his characters mostly full frontal or profiled, has a look all his own, giving this novel seasonal story a new twist.

Kirk's earlier books include his popular Library Mouse
series and Ten Thank-You Letters.

Fashionable Foliage: Fancy Nancy and the Fall Foliage by Jane O'Connor

HOORAY!

FALL IS MY FAVORITE SEASON. I LOVE HOW THE FOLIAGE CHANGES COLOR. (FOLIAGE IS FANCY FOR ALL THE LEAVES.)

For a redhead like Nancy Clancy, the colors of the fall leaves are a natural backdrop. She changes into autumnal shades ("fabu" hues!) and heads out to get into the fun of raking up the falling leaves.

Her little sister JoJo and dog Frenchy have other ideas about what to do with the fluffy piles of fall-tinged foliage, but Nancy is in such an ebullient mood that she joins them in a few seasonal dives into the leaves herself.

While Mom and Dad persevere with the raking and bagging, Nancy notices a maple leaf in an arrestingly unusual color--burgundy (fancy for reddish purple) and Ooh-la-la!--the decorative possibilities that present themselves to Nancy's aesthetic side!!

Mom suggests an autumn leaf scrapbook, but Nancy's been there and done that--last year yet! Dad's idea is leaf prints, but that's not quite innovative enough for Nancy either!

I WANT TO DO SOMETHING EXTREMELY CREATIVE!

Always fashion forward, Nancy comes up with a craft idea that combines autumn leaves with the season which follows--a fall foliage wreath for the front door that celebrates autumn and hints at the December holiday to come:

IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY TO START GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS!

Jane O'Connor's Nancy always has an eye for fashion and decor, and in her latest celebration of the season, Fancy Nancy and the Fall Foliage (HarperFestival, 2014), she pictures the Clancy clan pitching in to make even yard work an opportunity for family fun. Robin Preiss Glaser and associate artist Carolyn Brand pitch in as well with exuberant illustrations of Fancy Nancy doing what she does so well. Pair this one with O'Connor's top-selling and wryly witty portrayal of an extended family Thanksgiving feast, Fancy Nancy: Our Thanksgiving Banquet.

Tempus Fugit! City Dog Country Frog by Mo Willems and John Muth

CITY DOG DIDN'T STOP ON THE FIRST DAY IN THE COUNTRY. HE RAN AS FAR AND FAST AS HE COULD.

AND ALL WITHOUT A LEASH!

CITY DOG SPOTTED SOMETHING HE HAD NEVER SEEN, SITTING ON A ROCK. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" ASKED CITY DOG.

"WAITING FOR A FRIEND," REPLIED COUNTRY FROG. "BUT YOU'LL DO."

And do he does. It's a friendship made in heaven, and through the spring days Country Frog smiles broadly as he teaches City Dog to do all the froggy things--jumping, splashing, and sitting on rocks. City Dog's tail never stops wagging, and Frog learns to ride on the swimming Dog's head.

City Dog returns in summer, and he begins to teach Country Frog city dog games--sniffing, barking, and especially fetching sticks. Country Frog tosses and City Dog fetches. Country Frog keeps on smiling, and City Dog's tail never stops wagging as the two friends play all day, and when it rains, Country Frog shelters Dog under an umbrella leaf.

Then it is Fall, and City Dog returns to Frog's rock by the pond, hoping for dog or frog games.

"I AM A TIRED FROG," REPLIED COUNTRY FROG. "MAYBE WE CAN PLAY REMEMBERING GAMES."

Dog and Frog sit on their adjoining rocks and remember the jumping, and splashing and sniffing and barking and fetching games. And that is fall.

And then it is winter. When City Dog returns, there is snow everywhere, and ice covers the pond. Country Frog is not on his rock, and City Dog sits there alone, his tail down and still, as the cold wind blows over the lonely scene.

Spring returns, and with it City Dog, but Country Frog does not. City Dog is still alone on the rock. Then someone appears.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" ASKED COUNTRY CHIPMUNK.

"WAITING FOR A FRIEND," REPLIED CITY DOG SADLY.

THEN HE SMILED A FROGGY SMILE. "BUT YOU WILL DO."

Mo Willems, three-time Caldecott and two-time Geisel award winning author/illustrator, famed for his humorous urban cartoon-style stories, has written a different sort of story, teaming up with the Caldecott winner John Muth (Zen Shorts) to create a beautiful and moving story, elegant in its simplicity and depth, about the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of life, and the circle of friendship. Their product, City Dog, Country Frog (Hyperion, 2010), is a book which needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. Muth's watercolored illustrations are softly stunning, like the text simple and spare, yet fully evocative of each season, rendered alternately in the soft greens and pastels of spring, the lush deep colors of summer, and the more limited oranges and browns of fall (even Frog moving from his summer green to take on that autumnal shade), and finally the muted blues, grays, and lavenders of the snowy winter scene. Dog's tail, wagging or still, speaks volumes, as does Frog's happy grin when the two are together. It is a book which says more than does the text, the words and illustrations becoming one, yet augmenting each other in that form which comes together to make the perfect picture book.