“Lemonade petals./ Sunflakes between./ Lemonade, sunflakes, and yellow on green.” Sala (What’s Cooking at 10 Garden Street?) anchors this serene, incantatory poem by White (Who Eats Orange?) with a family—mother, father, child, all with brown skin and black hair—she follows through the seasons. With feather-light economy, White’s musical language (“Gentle the breezes./ Rain between./ Breezes and rain and yellow on green”) combines color and sensation. In watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil, soft lines and saturated hues mark each new season: an apple harvest for fall, a snow-laden spruce for winter. As the weather grows colder (“Cinnamon spice./ Almond between./ Cinnamon, almond, and brown on green”), it becomes clear that the family is expecting a baby. Rolling winter farmland signals space and peace; the family gathers with others to sing carols, and the child lays a hand on their mother’s stomach with a smile. Soon, the mother and an infant are visible through the house’s window. White’s words beat at the same slow pace as time lived by the seasons, and Sala’s paintings celebrate lives immersed in nature’s wealth.”

“… this radiant combination of poetic text and warm, inviting watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil illustrations is much more than a simple depiction of changing seasons. The text—comprised of hypnotic, rhyme-laden tercets—considers how colors blend and layer in nature, while the pictures tell the story of a boy living with his parents in a small, white house surrounded by fields and near to the water. All of the family members have dark skin and hair with blue eyes. A flowing perspective in the full-bleed paintings invites the reader to enter and feel like part of the story as, in spring, plants grow past the edges, while summer brings sand, water, and picnics in the fields. Moving into fall, apples and pumpkins appear, then lots of snow, always with the family positioned just inside the frame of nature. Idyllic scenes of playing at the beach, gathering with friends (of various skin and hair colors), and singing around a Christmas tree present a calm respite from everyday busyness. As the seasons progress, another transition occurs, with a new baby joining the family when spring comes again.

“White’s text is written in eminently readable verse that employs repetitions, spot-on cadence, slant rhymes grounded in assonance, and inventive word choices. Meanwhile Sala’s art provides all the narrative content, interpreting the poetic text with lush illustrations that follow a family … through the seasons in their rural coastal community.”

“The rhythmic text practically sings of the shifting seasons . . . . A beautifully illustrated, peaceful song of family, community, and new birth.”

“Yellow the flower./Yellow the seed./Yellow and black the buzzing bee.” Starting in the spring, this gentle verse story follows a small boy, his family, and their friends over the course of one year. Each season brings its own cozy delights, lushly depicted in Sala’s colorful spreads. Whether it’s the child playing in puddles and enjoying spring flowers, exploring the beach and picnicking with family and friends in the summer, savoring autumnal repasts, or caroling in the winter, each scene brims with love, warmth, and rural tranquility … A quietly comforting celebration of family and nature that can enrich most collections.”

“…An immersive experience for eyes and ears, this picture book gracefully celebrates both the natural, colorful world and the family and friends with whom this world is shared.”

(Highly recommended)

2021 CaldeNotts*, by Julie Danielson

In a spare and eloquent rhythmic text, author Dianne White takes readers through the seasons … Each season seamlessly flows into the next, thanks in large part to the choices of illustrator Felicita Sala, who draws many parallels on these expertly composed spreads… But! Sala lives in Italy. So, though this book won’t get Caldecott love, I’m giving it lots of CaldeNott love.”

* “CaldeNotts … are exceptional picture books published in any given year that are not eligible for the Caldecott, because the illustrator doesn’t have U.S. citizenship or residency… .”