Parents' Guide to Is It Spring?

With child-like curiosity, relatable impatience, and pure joy, this picture book captures the familiar (and sometimes frustrating!) volatility of spring's arrival. Kevin Henkes' question-and-answer text is expertly matched by subtly gorgeous watercolor and ink art, with even the elongated, curved font contributing to the mood. The titular question of Is It Spring? appears on three full-color pages, each paired with seasonal scenes: hopeful lime green before early flowers and blue skies, moody pale blue before icy wind and dark clouds, sad taupey gray as a child watches snow fall hard from a window. "Will it ever be spring?" lands on an exuberant pink page alongside sunshine on snow-covered roofs and is answered with "Yes! / Yes! / Yes!"

The final spread shows three bird hatchlings, beaks upturned in a nest on a flowering branch, with "And it was spring" below; the facing page is a text-free bold royal blue—a declaration that spring has arrived, and there's nothing left to ask. The evocative art and rhythmic narrative read like poetry, capturing the ups and downs of waiting, waiting, waiting—and then being richly rewarded. This one feels destined to be a seasonal favorite.