Our Seasons

by Grace Lin, Ranida T. Mckneally, Grace Lin (Illustrator)

Overview

What's your favorite season?

Follow Ki-ki, Owen, Lily, and Kevin through the year as they explore the four seasons.

Cheerful haiku accompany season-related questions and answers about weather, the natural world, and the human body. Find out why we have seasons and how they vary around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570913617
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	07/28/2007
Edition description:	New
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	120,773
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.13(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Grace Lin grew up in Upstate New York with her parents and two sisters. While the other sisters became scientists, Grace became an artist.
After attending the Rhode Island School of Design, Grace quickly set out to achieve her dream of creating children's books. Grace and written and illustrated several books for children, including THE UGLY VEGETABLES, DIM SUM FOR EVERYONE! and OLIVINA FLIES. Grace lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Ranida McKneally studied cell biology as an undergraduate at Cornell University and did her graduate work in behavioral ecology at Harvard University. Her studies have taken her on many fun adventures—from peering into tiny cellular worlds in laboratories to tracking wild gibbons in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Through her work and writing, she hopes to engage kids in learning more about the wonders of the natural world. Ranida lives in Medford, MA with her husband, daughter, and fluffy collie.

Editorial Reviews

Outstanding illustrations, combined with an unusual mixture of texts, create a fascinating fusion of styles in this wonderful multicultural picture book. Depictions of seasonal fun mix with scientific explanations for the weather presented, as four friends Ki-Ki, Owen, Lily, and Kevin, dance through the pages. Lin's graceful illustrations highlight the flow of the wind, and her use of brightly colorful shapes with clear, dark outlines convey a peaceful, yet playful tone. A fluid sense of motion also fills the drawings. Written for a dual audience of older and younger kids, the text contains a combination of expressive haiku that are perfect for reading aloud with longer, scientific sidebars that convey information on weather phenomenon. For example, one paragraph next to a depiction of the children building a snowman explains why cheeks turn red in the cold, while the haiku on the page captures the mood of the moment: "Owen's cheeks turn red / From the cold lipstick kisses / Given by the wind" (14). Science and art blend beautifully to make this an exceptional picture book.

Children's Literature - Laura Ruttig

K-Gr 2-Following a brief explanation of the science behind the seasons, Lin takes readers from autumn to summer, pairing haiku verses on one page with explanations of seasonal changes on the other. For autumn, for example, the text answers the questions, "What makes the wind?" "Why do leaves change color?" and "Why do I see my breath?" Further pairings address frost, suntans, thunderstorms, and pollination, among others. The simple haiku provide an accessible foray into poetry for the youngest readers and, for the most part, the scientific explanations follow suit. While the initial explanation of the Earth's revolution around the sun might have benefited from a more illustrative diagram, the title ultimately delivers. The gouache illustrations have plenty of child appeal and effectively tie together the poetry and the facts. A welcome addition to any collection in need of seasonal titles.-Jill Heritage Maza, Conn Elementary, Raleigh, NC Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

In this intriguing combination of poetry and nonfiction, each season is given three double-spreads, containing a haiku and a science question-and-answer. In Spring, for example, "Lily hears thunder. / 'You don't have to yell!' she calls. / Still, the sky grumbles." The sidebar asks, "What makes a thunderstorm?" and explains how hot air rising quickly causes the electrical buildup that results in thunder and lightning. The questions are relevant to children ("Why do I sneeze?") and the answers clear and thorough. Lin's vivid gouache illustrations and multi-ethnic characters Lily, Owen, Ki-ki and Kevin are terrifically appealing. If the haikus aren't quite to the level of Jack Prelutsky's If Not For the Cat (2004) or George Shannon's Spring (1996), that's a small quibble given that this has the potential to interest children in both poetry and science. (Picture book/poetry/nonfiction. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews