Review of Is It Spring? by Kevin Henkes

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Is It Spring?

by Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2026. 32 pages.
Review written March 11, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Back when I was a librarian in the branches doing storytimes, it was a challenge finding picture books short enough and simple enough for Toddler Storytime. This book is absolutely perfect. And there’s plenty for older kids to enjoy, too. It’s also absolutely perfect for the day I’m writing this. It’s mid-March and today the temperature high is 80 degrees. Tomorrow the forecast says Snow. With thunderstorms tonight. [Added the day I posted this: We got a full inch! It hadn’t completely melted off my car when I left work. Crazy times. But perfect for this book.]

The format starts with a question: “Is it spring?”

At first, various things and creatures say, “Yes” – the flowers in the garden down the street, the buds on the branches in the park, and the birds in the blue, blue sky.

But the question is asked again, and now the answer is “Not yet.” That comes from the wind, turning icy and sharp, the clouds, turning thick and gray, and the animals (squirrels), still sleepy in their dark homes. Of course each answer gets its own page and illustration. And kids will begin to guess what answer is coming and shout along with you.

The next time the question is asked, the answer is:

No, said the late snow.

A kid is looking out the window at the falling snow.

We turn the page and see “No, no, no!” across from the same kid now out in the snow building a small snowman on a bird bath while the flowers are drooping under snow clumps.

But now the question changes:

Will it ever be spring?

And the answer this time is more encouraging:

Yes, yes, yes, said the sun —

And then the sun warms the wind and melts the snow and calls the animals out of their dark homes.

And the book ends with Spring finally here.

Okay, I’ve told you the entire “plot” of this lovely book – but of course what makes it wonderful is the beautiful pictures and the page turns and the reactions of the children you’re reading it with. I bet you can get a big, “Yes, yes, yes!” at the end!

This is simply everything a children’s picture book should be, and it will get little ones noticing and talking about the world around them.

And let me tell you, it is perfect for today. I’m glad to remember that it won’t be long before the apparent No will turn into Yes, Yes, Yes!

kevinhenkes.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/is_it_spring.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Because of a Shoe, by Julie Fogliano & Marla Frazee

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Because of a Shoe

by Julie Fogliano & Marla Frazee

Alfred A. Knopf, 2026. 32 pages.
Review written February 20, 2026, from a library book.
Starred Review

Ahhhh! This book reminds me tremendously of one of my favorite picture books from when my own kids were young – and I think the book where I discovered that I love Marla Frazee’s illustrations – Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild, by Mem Fox, illustrated by Marla Frazee.

Both books feature a similar situation – a mother and a sweet, funny toddler – and the mother eventually losing it. But both books, of course, end with that deep love and connection – despite those moments anyone who’s ever lived with a toddler will relate to.

Julie Fogliano is a poet. So Because of a Shoe is a long poem about a toddler faced with the horror of putting on their shoes when it’s past time to get out the door. And of course the illustrations show the full drama of the situation.

even when. . .
because of a shoe
(a too-tight shoe
a too-loose shoe)
you are screaming
and you don’t want to be screaming
but you just can’t stop screaming

and even when
you are on the floor
and you are flopping
and you don’t want to be flopping
but you just can’t stop being on the floor
and flopping

The pictures change to black and white when things get to imaginary scenarios.

and even when
you are never getting up from the floor

and you will live on the floor

and you will
eat your dinner
on the floor

and you will
go to school
on the floor

and you will grow up
and go to work at an office
on the floor

[There’s more, but you get the idea]

I love all the emotions expressed about the shoe – and then the mother starts reacting.

and even when
i am loud and i am yelling
and i don’t want to be loud and yelling
but i just can’t stop being loud and yelling
because we are leaving
and we are late
and everyone is waiting
and you love those shoes
they are your best shoes
they are your red shoes
they are your favorite red shoes

I think that’s the part that really got me. Yes, we’ve all known a toddler to turn on their favorite things and it doesn’t make any sense and what’s a mother to do?

But yes, it comes to a beautiful resolution. (This is just the beginning of it.)

even then

you are still you
(funny sweet you)
and i am still me
(funny sweet me)
and we are not a shoe
(not the tightest shoe
or the loosest shoe)

And gosh, the loving harmony at the end simply fills me with all the feels.

So, yes, this is for every funny sweet parent who’s ever had a funny sweet toddler in their home – even though they might lose it at times.

Is it actually for the child? I think such a clear depiction of a fraught situation can only shine light on what’s important – how much we love each other no matter what.

juliefogliano.com
marlafrazee.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/because_of_a_shoe.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Seven Little Ducklings, by Annette LeBlanc Cate

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Seven Little Ducklings

by Annette LeBlanc Cate

Candlewick Press, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written January 15, 2026, from a copy sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review
2026 Mathical Book Prize Winner, PreK

When I first read this book, I didn’t fully appreciate it. But after discussing it with the Mathical Book Prize committee today and wholeheartedly selecting it as our winner, I want to post a review. (I’ll wait to post this until after the announcement is made.)

With the title and the opening, I thought it was, ho-hum, a counting book – something that’s already been done quite well in various other books. And sure enough, as the book opens, seven ducklings hatch while their mother is sleeping. And they step out into the wild.

This mother isn’t one to blithely go on her way while losing ducklings! She sets out looking for them.

And I almost didn’t notice the twist. At first, things are predictable. She finds the first duckling and they go on swimming together, then the second. But then we get this spread with four pictures:

From the jaws of a fox
she saves child number three.

The fourth duck is stuck
in the roots of a tree.

Three more small babies
are pulled from the ooze.

She plucks one from a dive,
then counts them, confused.

Because Mother Duck now has more babies than she started with!

This is when an astute reader notices the pictures – that some of the ducks are colored differently than the originals, and some of the babies aren’t ducks at all.

And she keeps collecting more babies in humorous ways – and eventually decides that all thirteen belong safe in her nest under her wings.

So, yes, it’s a counting book. But the story is so much more, and kids will love figuring out which are the new babies in the family. This stands up to repeated readings, with new things to spot each time. Besides counting, the pre-math skills of comparing and sorting are included – and kids get to be smarter than Mama Duck.

candlewick.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/7_little_ducklings.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Island Storm, by Brian Floca, pictures by Sydney Smith

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Island Storm

by Brian Floca
pictures by Sydney Smith

Neal Porter Books (Holiday House), 2025. 48 pages.
Review written December 29, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #10 Picture Books

This picture book story is told in second person, which I usually don’t like, but it works beautifully here.

The wonderful pictures start even before the text. On the title page, there’s a boy and little sister standing at a window looking out. Then the dedication and copyright spread shows a woman collecting clothes blown from a line, plus a cloudy sky and gray sea.

Then we’re looking through a dark hallway to a bright doorway with the kids now wearing boots. And the text says:

Now take my hand
and we’ll go see
the sea before the storm.

The pictures and text show what they pass along the way and the waves smashing on the rocks.

But after this, and after several other interludes, there’s a refrain:

And then we ask, is this enough, or do we try for more?
You pull on me, and I pull on you, and we decide to go on.

And so they keep going on, passing homes with boarded up windows, their neighbor finishing one last walk with her dogs, the town empty of people after folks have finished stocking up.

When the thunder finally starts, they run home, planning on a shortcut through the woods – which ends up being harder in the storm than they’d thought it would be.

You can see the relief on the face of the grown-up with the flashlight who finds them and hugs them. Then they watch the storm through the windows – and the book ends the next day with the sun shining and the sea calm – “And you and I go on.”

I have to say that the amazing pictures, combined with the immediate text, make this book feel like you’re walking with the kids in the storm. This one is much better than I can capture with words alone – so let me encourage you to check it out!

brianfloca.com
sydneydraws.ca

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/island_storm.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of The Littlest Drop, by Sascha Alper, illustrations by Jerry Pinkney & Brian Pinkney

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

The Littlest Drop

by Sascha Alper
illustrations by Jerry Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

Anne Schwartz Books, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written November 18, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This picture book retells a folk tale the author originally heard from the environmentalist Wangari Maathai. Brian Pinkney tells us that his father had left behind sketches that were almost complete, but he hadn’t started painting yet. Brian lovingly completed them with a result that’s a beautiful combination of both of their styles.

The story is of a hummingbird who lives in “a vast, beautiful land that was a home to all of the animals.” After she builds her nest, a spark starts a fire not far away.

All the animals flee to the river and huddle frightened by its side. But the hummingbird wants to do something.

And so the hummingbird flew to the river and filled her tiny beak with just the littlest drop of water, for that was all that it would hold.

When the other animals tell her she’s too small to put out the fire, she answers, “I am doing what I can.”

And that prompts the elephant to do what she can. And soon all the animals are working to put out the terrible fire. And the last drop that puts out the fire comes from the hummingbird.

It’s a lovely tale about each of us doing our bit. Who knows? You may inspire others to all work together to help everyone.

justjerrypinkney.com
brianpinkney.net
rhcbooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/littlest_drop.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Fish Fry Friday, by Winsome Bingham and C. G. Esperanza

Contemporary, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Fish Fry Friday

written by Winsome Bingham
illustrated by C. G. Esperanza

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025. 44 pages.
Review written November 18, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Fish Fry Friday strikingly reminds me of the Caldecott Honor Book My Daddy Is a Cowboy, with pictures by the same illustrator. Both books feature a little girl rising before dawn to go on a special outing with a relative. Both have vibrant, bright, colorful pictures, many at nontraditional angles, showing happy, loving people interacting.

In this case, the girl is setting out with Granny to catch fish.

There are plenty of other people at the pier and they all greet Granny enthusiastically, telling the girl that her Granny is the fish magnet queen.

And then they start catching fish after fish. Granny declares each one her favorite and thanks God for the blessing.

After their bucket is full, they go home to prepare for the Friday night Fish Fry.

We clean fish,
scaling and skinning,
cutting and gutting.

And when that’s done, Granny slowly slides the knife from the top to the tail. “Beautiful fillets,” she says, shaking them. “My favorite.”

They coat the fish in batter, fry it, and even make hush puppies. Each part is Granny’s favorite. And it all builds to a big, happy family, in bright colorful clothes, sitting around the table, happily enjoying each other.

“Spending the day with you, baby,” Granny says,
“is my favorite, favorite, favorite part!”

“Well, my favorite, favorite, favorite part,” I say,
“is eating fried fish with you on Fridays.”

Reading this book with a kid may just end up being someone’s favorite. Few books exude so much joy.

binghamwrites.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/fish_fry_friday.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of The Polar Bear and the Ballerina, by Eric Velasquez

Fantasy, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 1

The Polar Bear and the Ballerina

by Eric Velasquez

Holiday House, 2025. 40 pages.
Review written November 12, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Wordless picture books are hit or miss with me, because it’s not always clear what’s actually happening. And they’re not easy to use in story time. But this one is a grand slam.

The book opens with a group from Harlem Children’s Ballet at the zoo, taking photos in front of the polar bear’s tank. They pose as the giant polar bear swims behind them. One girl has a long red scarf streaming out behind her.

After the other kids move on, the polar bear and red scarf girl have a moment through the glass. She lingers, but has to head to the performance. She doesn’t notice that she has left her red scarf trailing on the floor behind her.

The polar bear notices, though! In a double-page spread with extra panels, we see the bear climb over the fence lining his enclosure and go around to the entrance of the park to go in and get the scarf. He puts on the scarf and makes his way uptown.

There’s a sign on the ticket booth: SOLD OUT! NO POLAR BEARS ALLOWED!

But the girl hears his growl in response and comes running. She gets her scarf from him and brings him to a seat in the auditorium.

And then the girl dances, with a photo of the bear behind her. He is enraptured.

Afterward, he gets to take the scarf back home with him, and he dreams about his new friend.

And it’s all done so beautifully. The graceful lines of the dancers and the sheer size of the bear stand out. My favorite is the page of the bear stealthily getting out of his cage. Or no, wait – it’s probably the spread of the girl gracefully dancing.

There are facts about polar bears at the front and facts about the ballerina at the back. This picture book left me smiling.

ericvelasquez.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/polar_bear_and_the_ballerina.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Zip Zap Wickety Wack, by Matthew Diffee

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Zip Zap Wickety Wack

A Story About Sharing

by Matthew Diffee

Neal Porter Books (Holiday House), 2025. 48 pages.
Review written October 24, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This absolutely brilliant picture book makes me want to do story times again.

I’ve always loved books that subvert animal sounds. The classic Bark, George! by Jules Feiffer, was one of the first books my kid could read. And I loved to bring out The Cow That Went Oink, by Bernard Most, for story times. Zip Zap Wickety Wack reminds me of Froodle, by Antoinette Portis, which was a big hit when I gave it to my nieces. [Look at that! Froodle was also edited by Neal Porter. No wonder the similar brilliance.]

In this case, the book begins very deadpan. Completely traditional pictures and standard text tell us:

The cow says, “Moo.”
The horse says, “Neigh.”
The sheep says, “Baa.”

Could have been written in the 1950s! Except on that very same page, the goat is looking up at the sheep picture above him.

The goat says, “Wait a second. I say baa.”

So there’s an argument. They don’t want to share.

They start thinking of other things they could say, but oink, quack, cockadoodledoo and ribbit are already taken.

So the sheep declares that he will think of something that no one has ever said. He does a lot of thinking and then gets a full spread declaring:

“Zip Zap Wickety Wack
Bing Bang Walla Balla
Flip Flap Yackety Yack
Wing Ding Dilly!”

See why I want to read this book in story time?

But the book is only beginning to get silly at this point, because on the next spread we see a very small flying saucer coming to the farm. The alien inside says:

I hate to be a bother, but zip zap wickety wack bing bang walla balla flip flap yackety yack wing ding dilly is what I say. Why don’t you just wiffle?”

It turns out that wiffling is alienese for sharing.

And how they work it out is still completely deadpan and utterly hilarious.

And kids learn about sharing at the same time!

Trust me, you’ll want to find this book, and if you can read it without reading aloud, you have more self-control than I do.

matthewdiffee.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/zip_zap_wickety_wack.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Cat Nap, by Brian Lies

Fantasy, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Cat Nap

by Brian Lies

Greenwillow Books, 2025. 48 pages.
Review written October 9, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Fun fact: I met Brian Lies, because he won his Caldecott Honor for The Rough Patch in 2019, the year I was on the Newbery committee. So I met him at a pre-awards reception and got to talk with him a little bit. Still, these days I am resistant to reviewing picture books, because I’m still trying to catch up on posting reviews I’ve written. But Cat Nap charmed me so much I can’t keep quiet. And between you and me, this book screams Caldecott! (Though you never know what the actual committee will decide.)

Cat Nap is the story of a kitten chasing a mouse through art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There’s a fun refrain:

Does Kitten follow?
Of course he does.

But what makes the book stunning is the art. As in The Three Pigs, by David Wiesner, the cat’s portrayal changes on each spread to match the art where he is currently hunting.

So that would be interesting enough if it were simply different styles of drawing – but Brian Lies actually uses sculpture in many frames – when the cat interacts with a ceramic dog and a mask with a bird. He made actual stained glass windows when the cat interacts with a medieval stained glass pane.

There’s an extensive Author’s Note at the back with the works of art identified. And pictured without the cat. I was awed by these paragraphs from that note:

It would have been easy to create the illustrations in this book on a computer – to take a photo of an original artwork and edit Kitten in digitally. It was a greater challenge, and a whole lot more fun, to see if I could actually make pieces of art that looked like the originals in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and blend Kitten’s headlong pursuit of the mouse into them. Everything you see Kitten encountering and exploring in this book was handmade, using acrylic and oil paints, gouache, ink, plaster, wood, gold leaf, clay, paper, glass, lead, and more. Some of the techniques I used were ones that I’d done before, and some were new to me.

So yes, it could have been done digitally. And now, artificial intelligence even allows us to enter a description of what we want, and in seconds, the computer spits out an image. But wheres the satisfaction in that? The computer created it, not us.

If you like making things, practice. Practice makes better! It takes time to develop skills so things turn out the way you want them to; the way you see them in your imagination – you can’t simply leap ahead and skip all that work. But it’s fun to write stories and to make pictures and build things, and I hope you’ll do these things because they’re satisfying. Focus on the enjoyment you get while your skills are coming along. You can make pretty much anything you want to, if you teach yourself how.

If people before us could do it, why not me? Why not you?

Oh yes, and besides that wonderful Author’s Note, the book gives an engaging story. What’s not to like about a kitten chasing a mouse through entertaining obstacles? I love the way the kitten finds his way back home – the sound of cat food being poured into his bowl.

brianlies.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/cat_nap.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?

Review of Oh Dear, Look What I Got! by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Oh Dear, Look What I Got!

by Michael Rosen
illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Candlewick Press, 2025. 36 pages.
Review written September 16, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

Looks to me like we’ve got a new storytime classic here! Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, the creators of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt have teamed up for this new picture book.

The situation is simple and silly, illustrated on the first few pages:

I went to the shop
to get me a carrot.

Oh dear, they gave me . . .

a parrot!

Oh dear,
look what I got!

Do I want that?

No, I do NOT!

This text repeats six times, each time with a different object and a different rhyming animal. It builds to delightful chaos, and then all the shopkeepers come, bringing the correct object, and are pictured leading away the animals.

Does it make any sense? Could this ever happen? Not really.

Do I want to read it aloud?

YES, I DO!

Maybe it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I predict you can get a whole roomful of preschoolers chanting along with the fun.

Check it out, and see if you aren’t charmed!

michaelrosen.co.uk
helenoxenbury.co.uk
candlewick.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/oh_dear_look_what_i_got.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Subscribe for more reviews and talk about books.

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?