really lovely rhyme ( )

I like the four seasons of Wisconsin and I love the winter, especially when one can snuggle down inside and watch the snow fall. However long or short the winter has been though, it's always lovely to see green things begin to sprout again in the spring. Finding new books popping up like new shoots of bulbs, grass, and flowers, is just as delightful.

The endpages are covered in a scattering of green sprouts and a rainbow of flowers; the title page is a soft, glowing green. The story begins with a dark-skinned boy looking out the window of a brick building at a community garden in early spring. The trees are bare, but robins and sparrows flit about and the the leaves are sprouting. Cheerful, short poems follow the growth in the garden, "In the earth/a single seed/sits beside a millipede. Worms and termites/dig and toil/moving through the garden soil."

A small group of children work in the garden and it's full of life; bugs, birds, and sprouting plants and vegetables. Rain tumbles from the sky in splashy blue drops and, paralleling the growing life in the garden the little boy in the first spread walks with his mother, who is growing her own life. In the final pages, the family, now joined by a new baby, their neighbors and friends, grow, build, and plant in the garden.

An afterword talks about symbiotic life and the importance of respecting all life, including the bugs, insects, and animals, in a garden.

Verdict: While not a laugh-out-loud story, this quiet homage to gardens, family, and growth is a great addition to any picture book collection and will be a great choice for storytime or a quiet bedtime story.

ISBN: 9781534417977; Published February 2020 by Simon and Schuster; Galley provided by the publisher; Purchased for the library

What a wonderful book to ring in Spring! Written in poetic form, each page rings almost like a happy, peaceful song as it describes the wonders of life on a hill.

Small and large, every part of life from worms to termites to birds and flowers are brought across in a bright, cheery way. This one is perfect for a read-aloud and will have listeners (and the reader) sinking into the garden scene and looking forward to heading out into nature themselves. Life abounds in each phrase, and yet, offers the lovely calm that only nature can. It's simply well done.

The illustrations have the same effect. These are busy and chucked full of life, and still they offer a general sense of satisfaction and comfort. Every part is bright and colorful, and even the tiniest creatures are done with love. There is so much to discover in each scene, making it one young listeners can explore again and again and always find something new.

I received an ARC and enjoyed this one quite a bit. Even my kids loved flipping through the various scenes. So, I'm leaving my honest thoughts. ( )