  | Firsts and lasts : the changing seasons Author: Schubert, Leda | |
| Price: $23.28 | ||
Summary:
The joy of the changing seasons means saying hello to new but familiar rituals, like spring picnics in the park or homemade lemonade in summer. But there's also the bittersweet feeling of doing something for the last time, like mowing the lawn one final time on a brown day in autumn, or watching the last of the geese fly south in the early weeks of winter. Whichever way you mark the changing of the seasons, every year feels like an extraordinary miracle!
| Illustrator: | Robin, Clover |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (02/01/22)
School Library Journal (04/01/22)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (+) (00/03/22)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 04/01/2022 PreS-KâThis is a book about transitions, removed from the calendar and attached to the way children move through the years. The story opens with muted cut-paper collage, in the soft colors of late March before spring bursts out, providing an unsparing look at the "lasts" of winter's grip: snow days, melting and muddy drifts, but also the "first glimpse" of green sprouts pushing up, and as spring arrives, the first game of catch, and the first flowers. Here comes summer, and it's the "last" of the days for flannel sleepwear, and a personal changing season: the last time the "we" who narrates uses training wheels to cycle. There is bliss with each turn of the page, as the pastel hues of spring give way to a summer riot of deeper colors; with fall, the pages turn orange and gold for a last trip to the ice cream stand. One observation per page, and changing perspectives visually and philosophically, give a dynamism to the primitive but relatable forms. The family reads as white, the setting perhaps New England. VERDICT For any classroom lesson on seasons, this will inspire children to make lists of their own, to note those "lasts" and look forward to more "firsts." A lovely work.âKimberly Olson Fakih - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
