And Then It's Spring

by Julie Fogliano

Other authorsErin E. Stead (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 2012

Call number

E F

Collection

Easy / Picturebooks

Genres

Children's Books

Publication

Roaring Brook Press (2012), Edition: 1st, 32 pages

Description

Simple text reveals the anticipation of a boy who, having planted seeds while everything around is brown, fears that something has gone wrong until, at last, the world turns green.

User reviews

LibraryThing member kidlit9

This book was getting rave reviews and big hype because it is illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner Erin E. Stead. It was okay. Part of it is that I expected more and I was underwhelmed. It was kind of ant-climatic, when the day everything is finally sprouting and green definitely has more energy -

a vibrance that is not conveyed through the text or the illustration. It started out a little poetic ("First you have brown, all around you have brown"), but then it isn't so poetic. I don't know why the bears were added; it detracts from the main line of the story, although kids may find it amusing. The book can be used in language arts: the anticipated change from brown to green in the yard (one of my favorite moments), is one example of color change in nature. Name and describe some others (dusk, dawn, leaves, the change from green to brown).

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LibraryThing member akmargie

Wonderful illustrations with charming details and a muted color palette. Simple story with repetitive language and circular sentences.

LibraryThing member alyson

I just want to sit and read this until Spring really comes!

LibraryThing member Eglawren

A poetic, thoughtful book about the changing seasons and cultivating your own garden. Very sweet. Award-winning illustrator

LibraryThing member audreydodge

At first I didn't like the illustrations because all of the colors were brown. Obviously the natural tones are because it is fall. The boy and his animal friends plant seeds and wait for them to sprout and grow. They wait for quite a while and along the way, animals trample through the garden.

Finally in spring, everything begins to turn green and the seeds begin to sprout.

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LibraryThing member A.Smith

The colors and shading in this book worked very well to portray the mood of the story. The story starts off after winter time, when everything around is brown. The illustrator did such a good job of using different shades of brown to portray a dull, dreary feeling. At the end of the novel,

everything is green and blossomed and colors are everywhere. This would be a great book for children that love to do gardening.

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LibraryThing member lillged

The story here is sweet: about waiting patiently to reap the fruits of the seeds we sow. But, my favorite part of this book were the illustrations by Erin Stead. In particular, the main character's animal friends are characters worthy of their own place in this story.

LibraryThing member carolcavedon

A beautiful picture book about a boy that plants seeds and wait until next Spring to see the results of his hard work. I would teach about seeds, gardening, having patience, and waiting for the results of your hard work.
Reading Journal: counts as 1 Picture Book

LibraryThing member laurenbutcher

I loved this book for so many reasons! The main reason is that it showed Spring in a new light than it is usually shown in classic picture books. I think that the main idea in this story is to illustrate exactly how Spring arrives and the planning and preparation that goes into the creation of the

beautiful season. The first example I found to support the main idea is that the boy is planting his seeds in his ground and waiting. While he is waiting he is wondering exactly why it is taking so long for the seeds to grow into plants. He makes up scenarios in his head like that the birds are digging up the seeds and eating them or that the bears are stomping around on the seeds. Either way, the boy is impatient and wants to see his plants now! Another example that supports the main idea is how the pictures portray the mood of each page. When the boy is worrying about the little seeds in the ground, the sky is gray and the ground is brown. The boy looks solemnly into the distance and the dog is laying with his head on the ground looking upset as well. But when the boy finally sees that Spring has arrived, the sky is blue, the dog looks cheerful, the ground is green and the boy is having fun on the tire swing. Just the colors of the pictures can add a whole new story. The pictures help to show exactly how it felt to be there and just how marvelous it was to finally see those seeds grow!

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LibraryThing member Rickmaniac

I had such high hopes for this book, but it was sorely disappointing. I thought the illustrations were wonderful, but the text fell sadly short. The use of one run-on sentence for the entire book was shameful, and on the page asking "and is that a little green?" it actually says (MISSPELLED) "an is

that a little green?" Just bad editing and proofing. Ick.

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LibraryThing member JenJ.

Quiet. Contemplative. Poetic. All could be used to describe this lovely picture book with illustrations by Erin E. Stead. Spring is actually never mentioned explicitly in the text; instead the focus is on describing the details, particularly the colors that lead from winter to spring. A boy, a dog,

a rabbit, a turtle and some birds are all players in Stead's illustrations that chronicle the planting and early sprouting of a garden. Careful observers will enjoy looking to see what each one is doing on all of the spreads. Both Stead and Fogliano add just the right amount of whimsy to balance the predominantly thoughtful tone. This would be a great title for young families that are planning a garden and need to reinforce the importance of patience in growing things or just for anyone who likes to watch and explore the outside world.

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LibraryThing member Cfmichel

This beautifully illustrated and colorful story allows us to look through the eyes of a boy and his pup and witness the colorful transition from winter to spring! I love this for an alternative to the traditional teaching of seasons!

LibraryThing member phoenixcomet

"First you have brown, all around you have brown, then there are seeds", a boy and his dog are exceptionally tired of all the brown, so they do a little planting and then spend weeks worrying about their planting and whether the birds are eating all the seeds or the bears are stomping on the seeds.

Simply delightful story about hoping and waiting for spring to arrive.

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LibraryThing member Ashley_Peterson

I liked that this book kept a common theme of "then you have brown, brown all around". It felt like there was a good rhythm to the book because of that. I also liked the soft and calm feeling of the illustrations and that anything that was white wasn't touched with the medium used to create the

illustrations. It was cute to see what was going on in the images. Such as the dog digging up his dog bone and there being a "seed" sign for the actual bone that was buried.
This book is about a boy and his dog who plant a seed in the grown. But each day they go out nothing has sprout and the world around them is just brown. It goes through the seasons and this little boy thinking that the animals (such as bears) have stomped on the seeds because they obviously can't read signs. One day he goes out and everything is green instead of brown, meaning spring has come.

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LibraryThing member suzan2

A dog and his friend are waiting for spring to come and their plants to grow and become green. They wait and wait for the brown to turn green.

LibraryThing member Fjola

A very earthy, sober and understated book. The pictures are beautiful and it's a good lesson about patience. My son was very interested in the story. (We're growing tomatoes in front of our house, and he's very involved this year. But it takes a long time!) I really liked the pictures of what was

taking place in the soil (under the surface), they were so enlightening and we had a good discussion about how the plants take roots and all the little critters digging holes and tunnels into the earth.

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LibraryThing member heyleigh

I think biggest strength this book has is it’s art work. The pictures are done really well and you can tell exactly what is happening just by looking at the pictures. It's very earthy and it really sets the tone of what the whole book is about. The way the book is set up is about seeing brown and

it changes as the book goes but it continues to have the same theme and rhythm. Over all I liked this book and I think it would be fun for children to read.

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LibraryThing member darleenanderson

This is a story about a boy and his dog as they are planting seeds at the beginning of a long winter illustrated in brown. They patiently await and look for signs of growth and spring daily. The illustrations depict small seasonal changes throughout the book as the seeds finally start to sprout.

The final page shows the full transformation of winter to spring and is mostly green. This would be a good book to introduce seasons, plant cycle, and patience.

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LibraryThing member Jdwalker

The illustrations really make this book. The story itself is simple, but the illustrator does a wonderful job portraying characters that are desperately waiting for spring. My favorite page is the one that shows the boy with his magnifying class starting at the brown dirt hoping to see the smallest

glimpse of green to tell him spring is on it's way. With the boy are the turtle, rabbit and dog all with excellent facial expressions. I just can't say enough about how well the illustrator captures the expressions of disappointment on the boys face as well as his animal friends' faces. You really feel sorry for them and begin to wonder yourself if spring will come. Very darling book!

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LibraryThing member dorthys

This is a story about a young boy and his dog who are tired of seeing all of the brown earth after a long winter. So they decide to plant something to make the earth a different color. It is a slow start, but eventually they accomplish their goal. A very cute little book with excellent

illustrations.

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LibraryThing member JoseJay

The illustrations make for a classic and simple novel; however, I think this story is made to be read aloud. It’s not quite as energetic as some of the other options and frankly, quite boring. I find that young children would appreciate the story more if further discussion happened during the

read.

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LibraryThing member AliciaFine

This is a story of a boy and his dog who plant seeds in hopes of changing the brown ground to a green color. He sits and waits for many days hoping it would change, finally his garden was full of lots of greens. I would use this book in a young classroom since it is a pretty simple book.

LibraryThing member ryckecraw

A change of season story centering around the planting of seeds and a child's hopeful waiting for the brown to turn to green. The seeds are planted, watched carefully and worried about until finally after many weeks the brown becomes green.

LibraryThing member Enessa

A young boy and his dog decide to plant a garden. They cannot wait until it'll finally be spring so that things will finally start to grow.

LibraryThing member noah23

Great picture book about patience and nature. The illustrations are fantastic by Erin Stead.

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