Picture Book

 “On the steps of a house at the end of the street … ” A patterned text begins with a series of vignettes in which Becca wants to be “just like Grandma.”

The list of things that frighten a young squirrel named Evergreen is long: “Afraid of loud noises. Afraid of meeting someone new. Afraid of heights, afraid of swimming, afraid of germs. And thunderstorms–her very worst fear was thunderstorms.”

Lee’s big sister, Zora, is “the boss,” often telling him what to do and always watching out for him. At a sewing program at the library, Zora insists the librarian give Lee fabric, thread, and a needle just like the other kids, even though he’s younger.

Tim and Tom, “midnight black” Percheron horses, love the snow. Jenny, their driver, hitches them to a sleigh decked with lights, their bridles bedecked with bells and jingling.

Thomas loves ballet. On this cold winter day, Thomas, who is Black, and five other preschoolers arrive for Mr. Elliot’s class. “We hang up our coats, hats and woolly scarves. Then we wiggle and slide into our ballet shoes.”

When his usual tactics to alleviate boredom don’t work, Raccoon decides to bake an apple cake. Out of eggs, he heads to Fox’s to borrow some.

“Today is a BIG day. Today is the first time I get to help my papi at his work. He is a landscape contractor.”

The green-skinned witch hosting a cooking show breezes confidently through the first few steps of making Frog Soup. She’s filled her cauldron with water, added potatoes, carrots, 22 cloves of garlic, and fly extract.

This imaginative approach to describing the four seasons (in some regions) captures the overlapping traits that are inevitable between one season and the next.