The precisely worded text is carefully crafted to help children slow down the pace and tune in to the natural world with all their senses, not just their sight. Hill’s evocative illustrations, done in gouache with “digital retouching,” invite viewers to linger over each scene. Color is used sparingly until the last few double-page spreads, when spring arrives. A possible read-aloud choice for primary-grade units on the senses, this picture book will resonate with all those who find themselves yearning for spring. — BOOKLIST
Description
From snowy days to gray skies, a little girl watches and waits and wonders, will spring ever come? And then one day…
Sophie listens and watches for the signs of spring. Day after day, the same snow is frozen outside her window and the skies above are as gray as the day before. And then Sophie thinks will spring ever come and how will I know it is here?
Reviews
In the middle of winter (a snowy, northern, rural winter), Sophie is ready for
spring. But in the end it’s Sophie herself who decides when spring
has finally arrived: she runs outside and catches raindrops on her tongue. “Now I
know spring is here…Because this is what spring tastes like!” The book progresses
nicely through the change in seasons; double-page spreads of the landscape vary
with pages of more action-filled vignettes. The happy busy-ness of a small child’s
world—making paper snowflakes, reading, fetching the mail, playing with the
family dog—is the secondary story here, recalling the child-centered picture
books of Charlotte Zolotow or Eve Rice. - The Horn Book
"The quiet, almost lyrical exchanges between Sophie and her parents ... are reinforced by Hill's exquisite gouache paintings of a rural New England landscape. Simply lovely." Shelf Awaeness