IT’S SPRING!

Glaser and Swan team up once again in this eye-catching and informative ode to nature, the second in a series of seasonal titles (It’s Fall!, 2001, etc.). Speaking through the voice of a narrator, Glaser uses simple language to convey the changes brought by spring: warmer weather, budding plants, and awakening animals. “I run outside in thin pants and short sleeves. / No thick heavy winter coat bundled around me. / I skip and leap and feel light and free. / Fresh air rushes all over me.” On the next page, “Creeks and streams are starting to flow.” In cut-paper collage created from hand-painted papers, Swan’s gorgeous depiction of water rushing down a mountainside comes alive with swirling marbled paper and a slate-blue sky flecked with white. In the foreground, sculptured, sun-colored daffodils shoot up around the rocks. Later, Swan’s palette turns deep blue and mossy green as a troupe of wide-eyed “spring peepers and bullfrogs sing” amidst the rushes. The narrator and his dog, who’s howling at the moon, appear as small silhouettes below the star-dappled sky. In the end, Glaser suggests a series of “Nature Activities to Do in the Spring.” A natural choice for springtime reading. (Picture book. 4-8)