kirkus Starred review

Lyrical text invites friends to look closer and explore together as the seasons turn.

Outdoor play in a four-season climate requires flexibility and creativity due to changeable weather, and the children in this book are experts! A white boy and girl join a black boy and girl (gender cued via hairstyle and clothing) to go sledding in the snow, spy on animals emerging from deep wintry sleep, dig in thawing mud, watch clouds atop a flowery hill, soak in beachy sun, and leap into leaf piles. The children take turns being featured up close in painterly, gouache illustrations done in gently muted colors. Frosty breaths, breezes, and cottony clouds sometimes transform into recurring swirled motifs that contain birds, a unicorn, or a frosty deer. Endpapers further showcase the wind motif at the beginning amid raindrops and at the end amid snowflakes, underscoring the book’s temporal journey that begins on the front cover. Precise, descriptive couplets dance between descriptions of the fragility and unpredictability of nature and the dependability and strength of a deep friendship that is both interracial and ordinary. Young readers will find lots of ideas for how to explore their world throughout the year. Each spread also contains many natural elements that can be highlighted in STEM storytimes.

This poetic celebration of the impermanence and unpredictability of seasons is a delight for pluviophiles and heliophiles alike. (Picture book. 4-8) Kirkus Reviews

Publishers Weekly Children’s Book Review

Playing children and snow-covered evergreens illuminate verse by Fleming (Ready, Set, Build) that celebrates play throughout the seasons.

The writer’s telegraphic lines (“Sometimes splashing. Yellow sun”) let Sudyka (The Secret Keepers) convey the beauty of nature’s change and the things four children and a friendly hound find to do in it. They explore the woods with perfect freedom, cavort in the snow (“Sometimes sledding./ Frozen toes”), make mud pies (“So much melt,/ the mud is growing!”), and crawl through the grass (“Sometimes blazing secret trails./ Sometimes finding/ frogs and snails”). In several spreads, Sudyka paints the movement of air with feathery strokes of blue or white that curl into the forms of birds, animals, and other motifs. It’s a striking effect, especially in combination with quieter observations such as fungus on a tree trunk or seeds floating in the wind. At the end of the adventure, a brother and sister are folded into their mother’s embrace: “Always welcome,/ always home.”

Children who have experienced nature up close will recognize all the pleasures Fleming celebrates.

Publishers Weekly Children’s Book Review

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-Neither rain, snow, wind, nor mud deter four friends (two brother/sister pairs) and their dog from enjoying outdoor adventures year-round, as they delight in everything that nature has to offer. Each season brings its own fun, from splashing in puddles and sledding to building sand sculptures by the ocean and jumping into piles of leaves. Sudyka's gouache watercolor illustrations combine stylized realism with magical whimsy as fluffy clouds become unicorns and frosty breath unfolds into a flock of birds. Vividly detailed, her expansive spreads create a perfect counterpoint to Fleming's minimalist yet expressive rhyming couplets.

VERDICT A perfect pick for storytimes about seasons, nature, and friends. A wonderful choice for most collections.

-Yelena Voysey, formerly at Pickering Educational Library, Boston University School Library Journal

Booklist

Whether it’s a rainy, snowy, sunny, or blowy kind of day, there is always an adventure waiting for children if they choose to spend time outdoors. Two sets of siblings, one with a dark complexion and the other light, play together in all types of weather. Beginning with a waterlogged picnic, the large colorful and whimsical illustrations in gouache reveal ways to enjoy spending carefree days: sledding, swinging, playing in a tree house, picking apples, jumping in fallen leaves, and exploring. Readers will find a variety of birds and animals hidden within the swirls of wind, frost, and clouds. The short, rhyming couplets tell the tale of seasons spent having fun outside with friends: “Sometimes splashing / Yellow sun / Sometimes soaking / Summer fun.” This title will work well in a storytime setting or one-on-one as an introduction to seasons and the myriad activities that are available to youngsters in each.

Booklist