Winter Is Here by Kevin Henkes (review)

Henkes and Dronzek now move on from In the Middle of Fall (BCCB 9/17) to the next season. Winter here starts out about snow, which is "falling from the sky and sitting on the houses" and "sticking to the trees in clumps and curls." Also there's focus on the sheer effortfulness of winter life ("Boots and zippers and vests and zippers and jackets and zippers"), the sound ("The wind howls in every language"), and the colors ("With the dark of night, Winter is blue"). Eventually, though, "Winter shrinks away bit by bit," and it's followed finally by spring. It's a cinematically enticing take on winter, and the atmospheric lyricism is seasonally suitable. Dronzek's acrylics are soft and plush, with velvety lines befitting a snow-softened landscape and the kids and animals (especially the recurring squirrel) gamboling therein or nearby. This may not be the winter all kids will experience, but it's a cozy evocation both of the real and imagined experience of days measured by the white stuff. DS