Though there were hints of spring, back in March of 1888, in New York City, the day started wet and rainy and miserable .... and then got worse. It became the worst blizzard in U.S. history, and changed several things. At that time the agency providing weather forecasts closed on Sundays (until 5 pm), the city had made no preparations so no deliveries could be made (coal, milk, food), power and phone lines snapped, leaving great areas isolated. All that would change: the Weather Service would operate full time, sanding trucks and snow plows were prepped and ready to go, and power lines (and transportation) would move underground. City of Snow: the Great Blizzard of 1888, by Linda Oatman High and illustrated by Laura Francesca Filippucci is a picture book retelling of that famous event. The pictures alone will make you cold!

Here's a book with wonderful pictures to illustrate the transition from winter to spring: In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb, by Marion Dane Bauer and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully. The lion is fierce and rowdy until ... well, when? Read the book and find out!

Spring Walk, by Virginia Brimhall Snow if filled with wonderful pictures and clever verse all about the flowers seen in spring. Gardener or not, give it a try. :-)

Here's a nice little poetry book to celebrate a change in seasons: Ordinary Things: Poems from a Walk in Early Spring, by Ralph Fletcher with drawings by Walter Lyon Krudop. The poems were nice and short and bring up wonderful images.

Reading Hermit With Dog