Crinkle, Crackle, CRACK: It's Spring!

by Marion Dane Bauer, John Shelley (Illustrator)

Overview

Rap, bap, tap. Late one winter night, a child awakes to peculiar noises in the backyard- a bear! They journey together through the snowy forest as other animals eagerly join in, creating a parade to welcome the spring.

This is a perfect seasonal read aloud to bridge Winter and Spring. In this mysterious picture book, sounds build anticipation as the ground thaws, and the icy pond breaks. Trees begin to bud and more animals join the fray, until… CRACK! Spring bursts from a gigantic egg full of gorgeous flowers and birds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823441778
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	01/15/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.10(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Marion Dane Bauer has received many awards, including a Newbery Honor for the books she has written for young people. Her picture books include in Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb, illustrated by Caldecott winner Emily Arnold McCully, Halloween Forest, illustrated by John Shelley and The Stuff of Stars illustrated by Caldecott honor illustrator Ekua Holmes, which received four starred reviews.


John Shelley illustrations are known internationally, especially in Japan where he lived and worked for twenty-one years. He is the illustrator of Halloween Forest, by Marion Dane Bauer, Will’s Words How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk written by Jane Sutcliffe and Magic for Sale by Carrie Clickard.

Editorial Reviews

"Great for reading aloud and just right for springtime story hours, this is a fanciful version of how dramatic the change of season can sometimes seem."—Booklist
 
"Soft watercolor and ink illustrations are playful and detail-rich"—The Horn Book Guide

From the Publisher

03/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—Wakened by strange sounds on a late winter night, a child ventures to the door and sees a bear standing in the yard. The shaggy animal issues an invitation to follow saying, "It is time." As they venture into the woods, they listen to the sounds around them and the bear insists that the time is right, but for what? Breezes and buds echo the refrain as do a rabbit, squirrel, and beaver that join the snowy walk. Their destination? A huge nest topped by a gigantic egg that bursts open with a tremendous "crack" and releases a shower of birds, flowers, and butterflies to usher in spring. The twisted branches and gnarled roots of Shelley's trees recall the illustrations for Halloween Forest (Holiday House, 2012), a previous author/artist pairing. But these India ink and watercolor illustrations, including the fuzzy woodland animals, are inviting, not scary. Bauer's text flirts with rhyme and repetition that could have created read-aloud engagement but settles for prose that yields no surprises. VERDICT An adequate but not essential purchase for collections whose readers need a glimpse of spring as winter drags on.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato

School Library Journal

2015-01-20
Bauer's imaginative first-person romp puts (some) readers right into the story, inviting them to journey with the animals in the moonlight to welcome spring. Under the eaves of a homey (and nicely untidy instead of spic-and-span) house, "you," pictured as an androgynous blond, Caucasian child, are startled by some noises and must investigate. Stepping outside, you meet a bear who says, "It is time….Come with me." You are kept wondering what it is time for as more noises follow the first ones, and animals and plants and even the breeze join the bear's chorus that it is indeed time. Curiosity battles fear as more and more animals join the hand-in-hand parade to an unknown destination, the noises growing ever louder. Readers may start to feel their own curiosity fading in the lengthy setup to an over-too-quickly climax: A gigantic egg cracks open to spill out all things spring. Still, the text is at times lyrical and calming: "Cold mud sucks at your feet. / The moon is ice. / Even so, traveling with a bear / is rather nice…." Shelley's India ink-and-watercolor illustrations are charmingly detailed if ethnically limiting in their representation of "you." His animals are gentle and friendly, and the forest is a wonderfully textured place that harbors nothing scary. A new perspective on the "arrival of spring" theme best suited to blond, pink-skinned readers. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Review