Spring is here and that means it’s time to garden! This follow-up to This Little Kitty follows the same mischievous cats outside where they gather their gardening tools, seeds and starter plants, and discover all the garden has to offer. The kitties help weed and soften the dirt. They help water the seeds, but watch out for that tricky water hose! The kitties discover buzzing bees and flowers that make them sneeze. Fuzzy friends are there too, but who is that, rustling the grass? Don’t worry, kitties, it’s just a fluffy bunny! By the end of the day, the kitties are a mess, but when it’s time to clean up, they are nowhere to be found. Where could they be? It turns out these kitties have found the perfect place for a catnap. 

Karen Obuhanych’s This Little Kitty in the Garden is a bright and colorful celebration of spring. Pairing rhythmic, rhyming text that begs to be read aloud with bold, playful illustrations, Obuhanych captures each kitten’s personality on every page. Whether they are finding the best nap spot, chewing a stray weed, splishing and splashing in the watering can or digging the perfect hole for a little seed, these feisty pets find excitement in their garden. Readers will enjoy searching the spreads for all of the sneaky cats. Even if they cannot be found, they are sure to have left dirty paw prints behind!

Use this charming story to introduce young readers to gardening, or even the joys and woes of pet ownership. While This Little Kitty in the Garden is sure to attract cat lovers and gardeners alike, one only needs a sense of humor to enjoy this romp on a lovely spring day. Don’t be surprised if your young readers ask for This Little Kitty in the Garden over and over again! 

Author-illustrator duo Mrs. & Mr. MacLeod kicked off The Grunions series with their wild and whimsical How to Eat a Book. The series continues with the delightfully riotous The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before.

Twins Gerald and Geraldine and their cousin Sheila live in a grand mansion with many, many doors, all artfully rendered in heavy black pen-and-ink with bold splashes of primary colors. Layered paper cutouts create a 3D effect, and shadows bolster the visual drama so that the story pulses with manic energy. After all, there’s so much to explore when it comes to doors, from the swinging double kitchen doors to a trapdoor in the floor. But to the Grunion cousins’ immense frustration, there is one door in the house that just won’t open. Why is it locked, the kids wonder? And what’s on the other side of it?

The trio aren’t shy about expressing their big feelings about the situation, whether through shouts or leaps or open-mouthed indignation. Sheila “studied the splinters and notches, / the nails and latches” while Gerald, who “closed every door he ever found,” secretly decides to protect the huge red door from the boisterous Geraldine, who “shook as she stomped and wriggled around . . . She screamed at the door and fell to the ground.”

A wild scuffle with a hammer results in a big crack in the door—through which a flowering vine emerges and grows at an alarming pace. What will happen when it fills the house and there’s no more room inside for the Grunions? The story’s brisk pace and rhythmic phrasing ramp up the fun suspense as the kids try to escape the vines, with the mysterious door their only possible way out.

Readers will delight in The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before’s kinetic and expressive artwork that’s rife with clever details (keep an eye out for the kitten) and high-impact type treatments. They’ll have lots to think and talk about when they encounter the book’s final pages, which reveal what’s beyond the mysterious door and will surely build anticipation for the next rollicking Grunions adventure.

—Linda M. Castellitto

A lion dies, and his lonely, bored reflection goes in search of something new to represent. Such is the unusual premise of Marion Kadi’s fanciful Harriet’s Reflections, which follows a girl who learns valuable lessons about herself in the process of becoming attached to this strange alter ego. Kadi’s spare, humorous text gives momentum to this fun, surprising romp. 

After the lion’s reflection scouts around—nixing the idea of reflecting a flower or a duck—he spots Harriet and leaves behind a trail of puddles (a lovely detail) as he makes his way to peer in her window. The next morning, as Harriet heads to school, the beastly reflection is waiting and pounces with wild abandon into Harriet’s reflection in a water puddle. It’s a great scene, as the unsuspecting Harriet remains oblivious with her nose in her book, while her own reflection reacts with wide-eyed shock.

Kadi’s boldly colorful, swirling art is the star of the show, lending energy to each scene and adding oodles of personality to the lonely, soul-seeking lion as well as to Harriet, who at the start of the tale is miserable at school and sports a big frown. Each page bursts with vibrantly contrasting oranges, blues, greens and yellows; Kadi’s style is reminiscent of Matisse in both style and color, and the lion’s swirling mane and adorable, mischievous expressions are endearing. 

Harriet initially finds that her fierce new reflection makes her happier at school. However, problems soon arise, as she and her reflection begin romping “around the schoolyard like wild beasts” and “devouring their lunch and showing off their fangs.” Harriet comes to yearn for her own reflection and devises a clever way to reclaim it. 

Harriet’s Reflections is a creative tale about trying on new personalities as well as finding one’s true self. Young readers will enjoy every humorous step of Harriet and her lion alter ego’s search for a balanced coexistence.

Micha Archer’s spectacularly colorful collages in What’s New, Daniel? tell the story of a young boy’s day in the park. Daniel runs to meet his grandfather, who asks the boy, “What’s new?” Daniel responds literally: “Um, I don’t know yet.”

Daniel heads deeper into the park to retrieve some answers. What’s new with his favorite rock? What’s new with the redwing blackbirds, Mother Duck, Polliwog, Snake and other budding life in the lush and lively park that the boy and grandfather visit? With abundant curiosity, Daniel explores every nook and cranny of what is clearly one of his favorite places in the city. The answers Daniel receives prompt him to also consider what is new in his life. When Snake shares that it has shed its old skin, Daniel points out that he’s just lost a tooth. When Daniel learns that the polliwogs are all growing legs, Daniel enthusiastically shares, “My legs are growing too!” Archer, who clearly knows children well, then depicts Daniel showing them how strong his legs are: “Watch me run!” 

Archer presents a verdant park teeming with life, a pocket in a big and bustling city. Her vivid palette showcases nearly every shade of green—the true star of this show—but also warm yellows (the flowers Butterfly lands on), rich rust colors (the leaves of the oak tree in which Squirrel builds her nest), and the gleaming blues and teals of the sky, the water and even grandfather’s sweater. As in her previous books featuring Daniel (Daniel’s Good Day and Daniel Finds a Poem), Archer achieves impressive textures and details in the illustrations, creating artwork to pore over. 

What’s New, Daniel? not only captures an intergenerational bond but also celebrates the joy with which children take in the natural world. There are no screens in sight. Instead, Daniel revels in the shimmering water of the pond, the cattails sending seeds into the wind, the unfurling leaves on the fern, and the delicate wings of a butterfly, not to mention his own growing body. As Daniel puts it, with such unbridled cheer, “So many things are new!” 

Every year, Lucía looks forward to watching the northern migration of the monarch butterflies —but this year, her Papá is leaving with them. He needs to find seasonal farm work to support his family. Lucía spends the warm months without him or her beloved monarcas, strumming on his guitarra when she gets lonely—“Songs soothe weeping hearts,” Papá says—and as autumn returns, Lucía counts down the days until those she loves return to her.

Author Cynthia Harmony and illustrator Devon Holzwarth have crafted a beautiful story about the life of the monarch butterfly and what it represents to a migrant farmer’s family in A Flicker of Hope: A Story of Migration. Though Lucía and Papá’s desire to see each other again is bittersweet and moving, the real standout is Holzwarth’s colorful illustration work. Monarch butterflies litter nearly every page and morph into what Lucía and Papá need them to be: the music strummed from a guitar, a path the car takes to work, Día de los Muertos skulls.

Back matter gives information about the monarch reserve in Mexico and elaborates on the connection between indigenous Mazahua culture and the butterfly, particularly its connection to Día de los Muertos. Readers desiring more extensive ecological and political details about seasonal work will need to find them elsewhere, as the back matter limits itself to discussing the metaphor of the book and only touches upon the hardships posed by seasonal harvesting in America, and how this is the only choice for many Michoacán workers.

For those who love butterflies or those looking for picture books that explore an aspect of the immigrant experience, A Flicker of Hope will be a meaningful, beautifully illustrated addition to their shelves.

Between jobs, Roy DeCarava would pop a new film canister into his black-and-white camera and capture the day-to-day lives of the neighborhood he called home: Harlem. As he photographed the world around him—from a young Black boy drawing with sidewalk chalk, to a sunlit Black woman standing in a white dress, or an older Black painter selling his work on the street—DeCarava amassed a world-renowned collection that honored his Harlem neighbors. 

Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Photographer Roy DeCarava is the first book written about the life of the essential American photographer. Award-winning illustrator E.B. Lewis pays tribute by reenvisioning DeCarava’s iconic photographs as full-color paintings, imagining what DeCarava may have seen in the seconds before the film captured a moment forever in black and white. Playful juxtaposition of opposing concepts in the text, such as using eyes to listen or hungering for something that isn’t food, keeps the narrative bouncing forward. Emphasis on DeCarava’s search for beauty in every element of ordinary life—marked by the camera’s repeated “SNAP!”—provides a grounded base for relating to the photographer. Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem inspires readers to “look slowly” and discover a deep love for the everyday moments in their lives. After all, as author Gary Golio writes, “Life is how you look at it.” 

Quotes from DeCarava appear throughout Golio’s precise narrative text as well as a short biography in the backmatter that adds illuminating context and includes a statement by DeCarava himself, in which he proudly proclaims his intent to dignify Black lives and experiences through his work. A robust timeline puts into perspective the social and cultural changes that Harlem would have experienced throughout DeCarava’s life. Though the book lacks any of DeCarava’s actual photography, the biography and images of DeCarava and his camera will spark eagerness in readers for additional information. 

Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem honors a classic artist in a biographical picture book both beautiful and educational. Fans of Lesa Cline-Ransome or Carole Boston Weatherford will find this a worthy addition to their picture book collection.