Seasons hover on the brink of change as the world waits for spring in the gentle, hopeful picture book Is It Spring?, written and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist and Children's Literature Legacy Award winner Kevin Henkes (Sunflower Lion; Still Sal).
"Is it spring?" an unseen speaker asks. First, there is a chorus of yeses from a riot of blossoming tulips and daffodils, from "the buds on the branches in the park," and from birds fluttering in the clear blue sky. The speaker repeats the question, and the answer shifts to "not yet" from an "icy and sharp" wind that whips a red-polka-dotted scarf through the air past clouds "turning thick and gray." A third repetition of the question brings a flurry of nos as enough snow falls for a well-bundled child to build a small snowman amid the now-drooping flowers. Finally comes the question "Will it ever be spring?" and the sun itself answers, "Yes, yes, yes," breaking through the clouds to melt snow, wake animals, and warm the wind. "And it was spring," the story concludes from beneath a nest full of hungry baby birds, the spotted scarf now draped on the flowering branch under their nest.
Henkes once again proves himself a master of beauty through simplicity with this minimalist yet affirming narrative and its dreamily soft watercolor and ink illustrations. The assurance that spring will come even after icy weather and false starts feels readymade for talking with young children about the natural world or simply for offering a message of steadiness and comfort. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager, Allen County Public Library