SIXTEEN MILES TO SPRING

Pelletier’s lovely and carefree story, supplied with Krenina’s lovely, iridescent art, tells of the coming of spring, that special moment when the air imparts a note of change. Here, two odd fellows named Wilbur and Wiley signal it to Maddy and her father, who are on the way to the garden store. The two gents are driving a jade-green jalopy, with the legend “Sixteen Miles to Spring” painted on the door. They explain to Maddy and her dad that they are making their way north from the Deep South, just that many miles a day. The first hint of something unusual about them comes when Wiley releases a hatful of butterflies into the countryside. He holds up a finger and cocks his head: “Here she comes.” “Right on time,” replies Wilbur, and a soft wind ushers in a spring rain. The men bring out a sack and all four toss its seeds and sparkles and dirt into the now-blustery rain, and spring blooms forth in a grand entrance. Wiley and Wilbur hop back in their truck and push on, inviting Maddy to find them again—she knows how far they’ll be. Richly imaginative, with the harbingers of spring quirky enough, yet equally recognizable, to impart a sense of the magic in store for all of us. (Picture book. 6-9)