Happy Friday, Folks!

Ok.  So I had another book ready to share today.  But then, while I was writing my post, it started to snow!

Seriously!

On the Very Last Day of March?!  (When, may I remind you, Mother Nature, we’re supposed to be going out like a lamb!)

I consider this unfair, especially as we were only just melting out from the two feet of snow we got two weeks ago.

And the poor little robins just came back the day before yesterday, brave and hopeful!

So I felt it was important to embrace spring today, in open defiance of the dreadful ice/sleet/rain/slush/snow falling out to the sky, and as a result I am re-sharing one of my all-time favorite picture books which is so gorgeous to look at and so beautifully written that it makes me feel spring even though it doesn’t look that way outside at all!

This book is a treasure for readers and for writers!  If you haven’t had a chance to experience it, please!  Treat yourself! 🙂

Title: Red Sings From Treetops: A Year In Colors

Written By: Joyce Sidman

Illustrated By: Pamela Zagarenski

Houghton Mifflin Books For Children, April 2009, Fiction

Suitable For: ages 5 and up

Themes: Colors, Seasons, Poetry

Opening:

“In SPRING,
Red sings from treetops:
cheer-cheer-cheer,
each note dropping
like a cherry
into my ear.

Red turns
the maples feathery,
sprouts in rhubarb spears;
Red squirms on the road after rain.”

(Don’t you just love that?  Can’t you just hear that cardinal singing and see the worms wiggling on the pavement?)

Brief Synopsis:  From the jacket: “Color comes alive in this whimsical, innovative book.”  That pretty much sums it up!

Links To Resources: Junior Library Guild Activity Guide, Poem Starters, Readers Guide

Why I Like This Book:  I love the lyrical language of this book.  The author was so creative in her thinking – the way she describes the colors makes you see, feel, hear, touch, and taste Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.  The art is exquisite and perfectly suited to the poetry.  How can you not love lines like,

“Green waits
in the hearts of trees,
feeling
the earth
turn.”

I hope you’ll get a chance to read this book, linger over the language, enjoy the images it evokes, maybe challenge yourself or your children to come up with your own descriptions!

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

I hope spring is coming to your house 🙂