Good-bye, Winter! Hello, Spring! by Kazuo Iwamura

 

As the sun sets on another winter's day here in Alaska, I could appreciate the lovely illustrations and thoughts of Spring. I'm thinking watercolor with some whimsical animals in, hmm, maybe pen and ink. In any case, they're lovely. They made me grin as I wondered if Nemesis, as I've dubbed the squirrel who annoys my dog to no end just by existing, ever ponders such deep questions as "Where does the snow go when it melts?" Perhaps not, but it's a cute, fun story that children can enjoy.

Three squirrel siblings set off to find out the answer to that question for themselves. In the process, they traipse through illustrations showing that, yes, the world looks very different as the snow melts. They even get a lift from some new friends, friends depicted in lifelike detail. Best of all, it's all told in rhyme. True, a few times it seemed a bit off but I blame that on the translation to English. It didn't distract  

Bottom line, a short, fun story, superbly illustrated, some adventure, and it even teaches us something. What's not to like? Thanks @NetGalley and #NorthSouthBooks for introducing me to this new-to-me creative soul. It made my day a bit better just be existing.