When Spring Comes

by Kevin Henkes, Laura Dronzek (Illustrator)

Overview

Watch the world transform when spring comes! In a starred review, School Library Journal called this delightful picture book “A must-have, joyful seasonal title for the youngest listeners.”

In this beautiful book for young children, Caldecott Medalist and Newbery Honor author Kevin Henkes uses striking imagery, repetition, and alliteration to introduce basic concepts of language and the changing of the seasons. And acclaimed artist Laura Dronzek’s gorgeous, lush paintings show the transformation from quiet, cold winter to the newborn spring.

Before spring comes, the trees are dark sticks, the grass is brown, and the ground is covered in snow. But if you wait, leaves unfurl and flowers blossom, the grass turns green, and the mounds of snow shrink and shrink. Spring brings baby birds, sprouting seeds, rain and mud, and puddles. You can feel it and smell it and hear it—and you can read it!

In a starred review, The Horn Book said, “This joyful reflection is as welcome as spotting the first brave crocus.”

In the Middle of Fall, Winter Is Here, When Spring Comes, and Summer Song make for a beautiful quartet of seasonal-theme picture books to share at home or in the classroom. Ideal for introducing the season, for story time, and for bedtime reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062741677
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	79,524
Product dimensions:	9.25(w) x 11.25(h) x 0.00(d)
Lexile:	500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Kevin Henkes has been praised both as a writer and as an illustrator and is the recipient of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award for his lasting contribution to literature for children. He received the Caldecott Medal for Kitten’s First Full Moon; Caldecott Honors for Waiting and Owen; two Newbery Honors, one for Olive’s Ocean and one for The Year of Billy Miller; and Geisel Honors for Waiting and Penny and Her Marble. His other books include The World and Everything in It; A House; A Parade of Elephants; Chrysanthemum; and the beloved Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. Kevin Henkes lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.

Laura Dronzek is a painter whose work has been exhibited nationally. Her picture books include Moonlight, by Helen V. Griffith; It Is Night, by Phyllis Rowand; White Is for Blueberry, by George Shannon; Little Houses, by Kevin Henkes; and a quartet of seasonal picture books also by Kevin Henkes. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Hometown:

Madison, Wisconsin

Date of Birth:

November 27, 1960

Place of Birth:

Racine, Wisconsin

Education:

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Website:

http://www.kevinhenkes.com

Editorial Reviews

Henkes and Dronzek once again perfectly capture the quiet wonder of the natural world, as they did in Birds and Oh! …Dronzek’s vivacious acrylic illustrations, their bright colors emphasized by the thick black outlines, complement Henkes’s spare but lyrical prose. A must-have, joyful seasonal title for the youngest listeners.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“Lyrical and elegant in its simplicity, this is an enchanting celebration of the season to pair with Oh!, the paean to winter created by this same husband-and-wife team.” — Booklist (starred review)

“In a gently rhythmic text and lush, vibrant paintings, this husband-and-wife author-illustrator team ushers in spring, capturing the season’s sights, sounds, and surprises. …This joyful reflection is as welcome as spotting the first brave crocus.” — Horn Book (starred review)

“Dronzek’s cozy paintings combine the simplified shapes of plants, creatures, and children…Henkes is honest about spring’s more trying moments, weaving themes of waiting and patience throughout…Readers, especially those who live in regions that experience the full range of changing seasons, will warm to this catalog of familiar joys.” — Publishers Weekly

“A read-aloud dream, the meticulous text catalogs Spring’s awakenings and its characteristic weather. …Dronzek’s thick-lined, bright acrylics are as simultaneously wry and joyous as the text…Henkes and Dronzek make waiting almost as much fun—if not more so—than the payoff.” — Kirkus Reviews

“No harm comes to the bunnies, birds and kittens in Laura Dronzek’s deliciously colorful paintings for ‘When Spring Comes,’ a gentle picture book written by Kevin Henkes. …From brown to green, from eggs to birds, from seeds to flowers, seasonal changes transpire sweetly in these pages.” — Wall Street Journal

“Henkes creates a childlike and child-friendly cadence with the rhythms of his writing, and the robust, thickly outlined art carries plenty of kid appeal as well. …Expect this to see heavy use in classrooms and library story hours.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

Henkes creates a childlike and child-friendly cadence with the rhythms of his writing, and the robust, thickly outlined art carries plenty of kid appeal as well. …Expect this to see heavy use in classrooms and library story hours.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

No harm comes to the bunnies, birds and kittens in Laura Dronzek’s deliciously colorful paintings for ‘When Spring Comes,’ a gentle picture book written by Kevin Henkes. …From brown to green, from eggs to birds, from seeds to flowers, seasonal changes transpire sweetly in these pages.

Wall Street Journal

In a gently rhythmic text and lush, vibrant paintings, this husband-and-wife author-illustrator team ushers in spring, capturing the season’s sights, sounds, and surprises. …This joyful reflection is as welcome as spotting the first brave crocus.

Horn Book (starred review)

No harm comes to the bunnies, birds and kittens in Laura Dronzek’s deliciously colorful paintings for ‘When Spring Comes,’ a gentle picture book written by Kevin Henkes. …From brown to green, from eggs to birds, from seeds to flowers, seasonal changes transpire sweetly in these pages.

Wall Street Journal

Henkes creates a childlike and child-friendly cadence with the rhythms of his writing, and the robust, thickly outlined art carries plenty of kid appeal as well. …Expect this to see heavy use in classrooms and library story hours.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Henkes creates a childlike and child-friendly cadence with the rhythms of his writing, and the robust, thickly outlined art carries plenty of kid appeal as well. …Expect this to see heavy use in classrooms and library story hours.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

A read-aloud dream, the meticulous text catalogs Spring’s awakenings and its characteristic weather. …Dronzek’s thick-lined, bright acrylics are as simultaneously wry and joyous as the text…Henkes and Dronzek make waiting almost as much fun—if not more so—than the payoff.

Stephanie Garber

…most small children struggle mightily not just with the practice of patience, but with the entire concept…Kevin Henkes's brilliant picture book Waiting offered a sane, comforting path—and a life lesson equally necessary for children and for their advance-planning-mad parents…Now Henkes has written a follow-up of sorts…In many ways When Spring Comes is even more satisfying than Waiting, calling to mind Janice May Udry's classic A Tree Is Nice, with its simple declarative sentences evoking the deep, sacramental pleasures of being outdoors…Dronzek's acrylic illustrations are smudgy and friendly, with thick brush strokes and a close-up feeling.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

01/18/2016
With lyricism and an eye for drama in small things, the husband-and-wife team of Henkes and Dronzek introduce and examine the unfolding of spring, "Before Spring comes,/ the trees look like/ black sticks against the sky," he begins. "But if you wait/ Spring will bring/ leaves and blossoms." Dronzek's cozy paintings combine the simplified shapes of plants, creatures, and children, outlining them in heavy black and filling them in with scumbled brushstrokes. A seed sprouts in the dirt, seen in cross-section as the roots grow first and leaves emerge. An egg shows a hairline crack, from which a pink, featherless bird hatches. Henkes is honest about spring's more trying moments, weaving themes of waiting and patience throughout: "Spring can come quickly or slowly," he writes, above a vignette of daffodils in full bloom. "It changes its mind a lot," he continues as the flowers wilt under the weight of wet snow. Readers, especially those who live in regions that experience the full range of changing seasons, will warm to this catalog of familiar joys. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Lyrical and elegant in its simplicity, this is an enchanting celebration of the season to pair with Oh!, the paean to winter created by this same husband-and-wife team.

Booklist (starred review)

★ 04/01/2016
PreS-Gr 1—There's something almost magical about the changing of the seasons, and Henkes and Dronzek once again perfectly capture the quiet wonder of the natural world, as they did in Birds and Oh! Through second-person narration that features the refrain "but if you wait…," they detail the subtle and less subtle changes that occur as spring replaces winter—snow melts, trees and flowers blossom, birds hatch, and rain brings mud and puddles. Dronzek's vivacious acrylic illustrations, their bright colors emphasized by the thick black outlines, complement Henkes's spare but lyrical prose. VERDICT A must-have, joyful seasonal title for the youngest listeners that will make them impatient for all that spring brings.—Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

School Library Journal

2015-11-11
Caldecott Medalist and Newbery honoree Henkes hands over the paintbrush for this ode to spring.Recalling the central activity in his winsome Waiting (2015), Henkes' text emphasizes patience. "If you wait, / Spring will bring / leaves and blossoms" to cover bare winter branches. "If you wait, Spring will make" snow melt to nothingness (eventually) and turn brown grass green. A read-aloud dream, the meticulous text catalogs Spring's awakenings and its characteristic weather. "I hope you like umbrellas," the narrator dryly advises before also acknowledging that Spring "changes its mind a lot," as the drooping, snow-covered daffodils attest. As the season advances, the text grows giddy with alliteration and syllabic bounce: "There will be buds / and bees / and boots / and bubbles." Dronzek's thick-lined, bright acrylics are as simultaneously wry and joyous as the text. Readers will chuckle at the slowly melting snowman reduced to sticks and pieces of coal over five vignettes, and they will thoroughly luxuriate in highly saturated double-page spreads bursting with flowers and color (and kittens!). A towheaded child and a brunette older sibling, both white, also feel the joy. A final medallion showing three kittens amid strawberry plants teasingly reminds readers that the waiting's not over: "Now, you have to wait for Summer"; endpapers tantalize with fireworks, Popsicles, and flip-flops. Henkes and Dronzek make waiting almost as much fun—if not more so—than the payoff. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews