Fiction - Animals - Mammals, Fiction - Animals - Birds, Fiction - General & Miscellaneous, Fiction - Emotions & Behaviors, Fiction - Schools & Friendship
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Overview
Seasons come, seasons go. But a little brown bunny and a graceful blue bird discover that friendship, true friendship, lasts forever.
Synopsis
Seasons come, seasons go. But a little brown bunny and a graceful blue bird discover that friendship, true friendship, lasts forever.
The New York Times - Jim McMullan
The appeal of this book lies in its elegantly designed collage pictures. Berger plays textures like tree bark, block-printed leaves and chunks of typography against airy backgrounds of graph paper, exercise-book pages and blocks of simple color. Trees and flowers embellish the pages with the freshness of those beautiful Japanese prints decorated with boughs of cherry blossoms. The trajectories of the sveltely shaped animals (Matisse comes to mind) as they fly and hop in their play are described in dotted lines that swoop and bounce around the pages like science diagrams that went to art school. The effect is aesthetically refined but also warm. Berger adds little details, like a sliver of pink in the rabbit's ear, that lift the image off the page both graphically and emotionally…
Editorials
Jim McMullan
The appeal of this book lies in its elegantly designed collage pictures. Berger plays textures like tree bark, block-printed leaves and chunks of typography against airy backgrounds of graph paper, exercise-book pages and blocks of simple color. Trees and flowers embellish the pages with the freshness of those beautiful Japanese prints decorated with boughs of cherry blossoms. The trajectories of the sveltely shaped animals (Matisse comes to mind) as they fly and hop in their play are described in dotted lines that swoop and bounce around the pages like science diagrams that went to art school. The effect is aesthetically refined but also warm. Berger adds little details, like a sliver of pink in the rabbit's ear, that lift the image off the page both graphically and emotionally…—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
This quiet book about friendship retains many of the design elements and collage devices from Berger’s The Little Yellow Leaf—red polka-dot mushrooms pop up in the forest setting, dotted lines indicate the paths taken by the main characters, lined paper serves as an occasional backdrop, and words are tucked into the painted bark of trees and other vegetation. This time a blue bird and brown bunny become friends in spring, and because the bird must fly south for the winter, they are separated for months. When, “at last, the sun chase[s] away the snow,” they play together once more as “forever friends.” While Berger’s illustrations convey moments of both joy and isolation, this undemanding tale about friends being separated and rejoined isn’t quite as moving or poignant as Berger’s previous story. Nonetheless, fans of Berger’s spare aesthetic will enjoy scenes of pink tree blossoms arching over a log and the animals cavorting under fuzzy globes of firefly light in summer, as well as the basic message that real friendship overcomes distance. Ages 2–6. (Mar.)Children's Literature -
The slight text of this lovely book opens with the springtime friendship between a bird and a bunny. As the seasons progress and autumn comes, the bird flies south for the winter, promising to return. The two friends miss each other during the long months but once again spring returns and so does the bird,—"friends forever." The real appeal of the book and the force that turns into a kind of prose poem lies in the illustrations. Berger's collages subtly blend ephemera such as paper from old books and ticket stubs into delicate illustrations of a natural landscape. Illustrated spreads done on rich purple, blue, and chartreuse backgrounds alternate with others that incorporate graph paper backgrounds into the design. Spirals form an important part of the graphic design, echoing the theme with its emphasis on the ever circling continuation of the seasons and friendship. Reviewer: Mary Hynes-BerryKirkus Reviews
Spring sparks a perennial friendship between bunny and bird, who frolic together until winter's chill forces the bird south, promising a spring reunion. Past-tense narration may jar readers at first, but it signals early on this picture book's original treatment of time and cyclical change. Shapes and comforting matte colors layer to create blossoms, mushrooms, meadows and trees, with satisfying, simple sweetness. Words come sparingly too, in soft, measured lines that bring heart to the minimal illustrations. Berger allows ephemera (shreds of newspapers, receipts, tickets) to peek out from under layers and around edges of artwork. These flashes of everyday, human bustle produce incredibly effective incongruence, keeping readers attuned to the artist's powerful, honed depictions of nature. Her technique leaves readers poised to discern the grid of measured time in the graph paper on which she plants trees, to see how the snow in bunny's winter night looks identical to bird's far-away tropical stars and to feel both the animals' shared loneliness and immutable connection. Sophisticated, sensitive and accessible, this picture book will offer new insights and pleasures with each season. (Picture book. 2-6)School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1—A blue bird and a brown rabbit frolic together through spring, summer, and fall. By late autumn, the bird announces that it must fly south but promises to be back once the weather warms up again. The rabbit spends the cold winter months missing its friend, while the bird longs for the bunny. Before long, spring returns and the two are reunited. The succinct prose touchingly expresses the value of friendship between these two very different creatures. Although they must spend a portion of the year apart, there is still the promise of more good times to come, which shows young readers the value of patience. The cut-paper collages created from paper products range from old books to ticket stubs. The effect is enchanting, giving each detail a unique design. The color scheme is also indicative of the various seasons, where spring is most represented by bright green, summer deep blue, fall golden brown, and winter soft lavender dusted with white.—Donna Atmur, Los Angeles Public LibraryBook Details
Published
March 1, 2010
Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers
Pages
40
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780061915284