This picture book captures the joys of early spring. Using skilled photography as well as rhyming text, explore the various elements of spring’s arrival. Icicles begin to drip, snow becomes slushy, lakes thaw and snowmen droop. Animals react too with birds singing more and sipping from icicles, frogs peeping, and salamanders emerging. Crocuses start to bloom along with other flowers too. The entire landscape is waking up and celebrating spring!

The photos in this book truly capture that tantalizing moment where spring arrives. The majority of them combine ice and snow with signs of spring, offering those fleeting moments of discovery for readers of the book. The text is simple and reads aloud well. It lets readers get glimpses of animals in thrilling ways from piles of sleeping snakes to the chickadee in flight to snatch a drink.

Spring into action and grab this one to make your winter days a little shorter. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

With an amazing 86 words, and rhyming couplets, Buffy Silverman shows us the world's reaction to an early spring day as the snow melts away. Do you know what snakes, salamanders, and squirrels do on such a day? She looks at how animals, plants, and kids act on these early spring days. Though it's hard to choose, one of my favorite spreads is : "Lake thaws. Beaver gnaws." Tight, concise, and beautifully photographed.

Described in a starred Kirkus review as “Crocus-poking, mud-luscious enjoyment,” Buffy Silverman describes On a Snow-Melting Day as "an extended poem about all the changes that occur as winter retreats and spring begins. It features chickadees sipping from icicles, spotted salamanders marching over melting snow, and insects warming themselves in skunk cabbage."

Her description of the change of season is factual, yet never trite or dull. One of the qualities I find most remarkable about Buffy Silverman's evocative writing is her ability to transform carefully observed small details into poetry, finding the perfect word in every instance, even when it's one she's had to invent herself. Buffy is adept at wordplay alchemy and On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring is a superb example of what kind of enchantment can come of it.

Vibrant photographs paired with playful rhyming verse will captivate young children, making this book an ideal read-aloud for home, preschool, or library story time. For grades 1-3, teachers will appreciate this book as a mentor text because of the expressive sensory language. They can also make use of the back matter (an informational author's note, glossary, and further reading) to extend and enhance interactive learning. The book is "perfect," according to the School Library Journal, "for answering nature-related questions or crafting lesson plans."

This book features eye catching and interesting photographs, paired with rhyming text about a snow-melting day. The end of the book features more detailed explanations of each page, and could lead to awesome scientific questions and discussions with little ones!
I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Buffy is known for her beautiful photography and many many stem books. You can find all about her poems in anthologies on her website, including one poem "What Does A River Rock Gather?" that is a marvelous example of her love of nature that spills over into poetry!
Now look also at her website to discover all kinds of non-fiction books that include topics like dwarf rabbits, mako sharks, baby chickens, and bonobos!
But now it's time to be thinking about spring, yes, SPRING! In her introduction to this newest book full of nature's wonders, you'll find those things we all look forward to (even in February), signs of the season we love to welcome.

Buffy invites us to "Watch the world come to life."

In a poetic slide from the beginning, using gorgeous photos (some by Buffy, too!) she adds her poetry like "Clouds break./Salamanders wake./Icicles drip/Chickadees sip." all the way to the end.
Buffy has created a celebration of this season so welcome after wintry snow and cold. The picture on the back cover shows a gorgeous purple crocus pushing up, up, though crunchy snow! Remember how excited you were when you discovered that first color, heralding spring?
The book creates a wonderful way to celebrate a welcome to spring. At the back, Buffy has added short paragraphs explaining each part, like "peepers" and "beaver gnaws" along with a glossary and books for further reading!

If you study seasons or simply want a grand welcome to spring for a classroom or for your own children and grandchildren, this is a wonderful choice.

This is a rhyming-fun adventure from winter to spring. Kids will recognize the slushy boot marks and the grass "spring"-ing up as the snow melts. The journey is a pleasant anticipation of life to come after the snow is gone.

Wonderful pictures and sweet rhymes that will be a great seasonal read-aloud addition to any children's collection and library!

If you love April Pulley Sayre’s work—and I do—you’ll like or love this. Lovely photos, lots of strong rhyme, assonance, and consonance in the text. A good read-aloud for preschool or library Spring-themed storytimes (not a story, though—this would fall in that “talking about the season” portion, perhaps after a story with a plot)

This is a great book to use during your seasons unit. It goes over some transitions that occur from Winter to Spring. It is a very basic book with bright photos with minimal words. But, I like that it goes into more detail about each page in the back of the book.