In a dozen mesmerizing poems, Joyce Sidman (who teamed with Rick Allen for Dark Emperor) describes the cycle of the season, from the birds that migrate at the first sign of winter ("Dream of the Tundra Swan") to the skunk cabbage that serves as a harbinger of spring, "the first flower in the wood."
A symphony of rhyming couplets, "Snake's Lullaby" begins: "Brother, sister, flick your tongue/ and taste the flakes of autumn sun./ Use these last few hours of gold/ to travel, travel toward the cold." Allen pictures a few garter snakes moving from a bed of golden fallen leaves to a mass of writhing mates (as many as 20,000, according to the fact-filled sidebar) to keep warm for the winter. With a turn of the page, readers travel from earth to sky. One of the most exquisite spreads, "Snowflake Wakes," seems to be viewed from the "dizzy cloud" that gave birth to each "pinwheel gathering glitter." Rick Allen layers these unusual crystal patterns atop green pines that reach skyward, their needled branches forming a pleasing contrast to the fox stretching out in the snow.
Sidman introduces humor for "Big Brown Moose" ("I'm a rascally moose,/ I'm a moose with a tough, shaggy hide"), who stays put for the winter, and a nearly sacred tone for the title poem, "Winter Bees": "We are an ancient tribe,/ a hardy scrum./ Born with eyelash legs/ and tinsel wings,/ we are nothing on our own./ Together, we are One." This author-artist duo makes winter wonder-filled. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness