And Then It's Spring

I am big on celebrating the seasons and this is a wonderful addition to our books on Spring. The story is simple and leaves a lot to the imagination interpreting the illustrations. My 3.5 year old boy loves this book. As you can see on the cover there is a dog. We lhave a dog too and who doesn't love a dog and his boy?! Additionally there is a page where the boy is waiting for his seeds to grow and wonders why they are not growing. He thinks "...maybe it was the bears and all that stomping, because bears can't read signs that say things like "please do not stomp here-there are seeds and they are trying"." A few pages later the boy puts his ear to the ground and the illustrations show the layer below the ground so the reader can see an ant colony for example. Those are my boy's two favorite parts. Now we just have to get out to the yard and plant our own seeds!

There are two reasons I love this book. One is the writing, and the other is the illustrations. Words put together well help my children think and communicate and expand their world. This is a very simple children's book, but she has a wonderful way with words, and I love to start them early. Well done illustrations help my children set their heart on beautiful things and thus appreciate the beauty in the world around them. This is a very simple children's book, but she has a wonderful way with illustrations, and I love to start them early. :-)Nice job, ladies!

My 3.5 year old and I both love this book. It’s simpler than other books in our home library but she tells me how much she loves it and asks to read it regularly. I love the illustrations and the sweet details on each page.

We love the artwork of Erin Stead (A Sick Day For Amos McGee, Bear Has A Story To Tell, If You Want To See A Whale) so we were excited to buy this book. It did not disappoint. The illustrations are as beautiful as all of her other books, there are all these lovely little touches on each page (details like the dog planting a "bone" plant), and the text is like poetry rather than a straightforward story. If you are looking for a linear narrative-type story, then you will not enjoy this book. If you enjoy something that is a little bit off the beaten path - that also happens to have truly lovely artwork -- then this is the book for you. Our 3YO son loves this book and is always eager to point out his favorite little vignettes on each page.

Good book for helping young children to notice the small changes that come ever so gradually with the shift from winter to spring. I mostly liked this book, but the text seems a little awkward. The real "story" is told by the pictures, however, which are wonderfully expressive in the most subtle yet enjoyable way. Each turn of the page brings very slight changes to the plants, animals and child's clothes, which are not expressly mentioned in the text. Older children will notice on their own. Very young children can be prompted to look, from page to page, at the boy's clothes, for instance, to see how he gradually sheds his winter wear. This is the best part of the book.

We need this book as Winter lingers and Spring dawdles. It's a favorite! Great story. Beautiful artwork. Enjoyed by all: 2 year old, 12 year old, 35 year old and 62 year old alike This is a favorite multigenerational book in our family. Although we live in many parts of the country, it's a book we share. This newest copy went to the home of our 2 year old granddaughter at the request of her 35 year old mom in Chicago!

The first time I read this book, my toddler walked away from it. The second time, he walked away again. Then I found that with some improvisation in voice, expression and tone of reading, he can not get enough of this very sparse book. He asks to read it at least ten times a day, and smiles gleefully at the last page when the waiting is rewarded. He actually remembers the words in the book and will occasionally say, "First, have brown..." I'm really happy I bought this book.

I met this author personally at a read-aloud at our local library and fell in love! This book is adorable and the Julie is super sweet. This is one of my favorite books to read to my kids when i want to remind them about being patient. I also read it to a bunch of preschoolers in a program I run though the library in the spring and they had a blast connecting it to all they had learned recently about the seasons and plants. Definitely a must-have!

Un libro che adoro! La storia é scritta con un linguaggio semplice, adatto anche ai lettori più piccoli come i miei alunni di prima elementare. La cosa che amo di più sono le illustrazioni.... Fantastiche! Un libro che consiglio vivamente!!!

When writing and illustrating are as well syncopated as in this wonderful picture book, written by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Erin Stead, you have to sip it like a good wine.The writing is spare, but not one word is out of place, and there is not a cliche in sight. The idea of "the brown" that "has a greenish hum that you can only hear if you put your ear to the ground" is one of my favourite lines in the book. Then Stead's interpretation of what the bears who cannot read signs are doing with the signs is just funny.On the surface, it can be summed up as a book about a boy who plants some seeds and then waits for them to grow. However, it is about much more than that. Kudos.

This was my worst kids book purchase of the decade. Could be okay for the under 2 group. About 50 words in the book and most are on one page.

Sweet- beautiful graphics with lots of little pictures that caught the children's eyes in my class.

Great book, extremely natural and organic