(2) K-3 Illustrated by Beth Krommes. From sunrise to moonrise, a welcoming, cumulative narrative leads readers through a day on a farm. The opening illustration features a cozy, rolling landscape, where a stone wall and a "hedge that grew and grew" surround the farm; these "guard the yard. / The barn does, too." As the story and the day unfold, various creatures—deer, rabbits, lizards—quietly enter the yard one by one through a gap in the wall. Playful repetition brings attention to the animals, making them the true stars of the story. Humans are seen but are secondary, emphasizing the wild world around the farm. The late Howes's beautifully rendered descriptions of the natural world come to life through Krommes's signature scratchboard illustrations in a warm, earthy palette; they add a unique depth to each spread. Toward the end, an indoor bedtime scene compares life outside the window with a peaceful end to a child's day, offering a comforting conclusion.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2025

(1) PS Illustrated by Beth Krommes. After a series of wordless illustrations, Sidman's poetic text begins ("In the deep woolen dark, as we slumber unknowing"). A child's mother, dressed in pilot uniform, departs. The ensuing incantation is for snow to come ("Let the air turn to feathers, the earth turn to sugar"), and, sure enough, a blizzard grounds planes. Krommes's scratchboard illustrations do the narrative work in this mesmerizing book.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2016

(2) PS Illustrated by Beth Krommes. "Cotton clouds. / Morning light. / Blue on blue. / White on white." Succinct couplets take readers from a beautiful morning through a thunderstorm to a peaceful conclusion. Inviting scratchboard illustrations set this meteorological report on a cozy farm; they feature sturdy rounded forms and strong compositions where straight lines (such as pelting rain) counterpoint the prevailing curves (from a puddle to the earth itself).

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(1) PS Illustrated by Beth Krommes. "A spiral is a snuggling shape...coiled tight, warm and safe..." Krommes's scratchboard illustrations, vividly depicting spirals in nature, suffuse every page with color, shape, and movement. Each spread presents an entire landscape in varying palettes, with a treasure trove of details that will captivate the youngest readers. Sidman's very simple text is powerful, poetic, and good for reading aloud and reading again.

Reviewer: Nina Lindsay | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2011

(3) PS Illustrated by Beth Krommes. "Here is the key to the house. In the house burns a light." So begins a soothing bedtime verse that ends with a child tucked in bed, bathed by the light of the moon. The quiet patterned text is accompanied by dramatic black-and-white scratchboard illustrations with just enough gold touches to fill the pages with gentle light.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(1) 4-6 Illustrated by Beth Krommes. Eight pairs of "poetry riddles" present such related elements as the spittlebug and the xylem sap it sucks from its host plant. A spread giving answers to the riddles and adding specific details about, say, "dew and grasshopper," follows each pair of poems. The verse is vivid, melodious, and rich in variety. Krommes's scratchboard illustrations are splendid, reflecting precise observation. An elegantly conceived, beautifully integrated volume. Glos.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2006

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Beth Krommes. This attractive and entertaining but relatively insubstantial collection of nine folktales, derived from the author's Scandinavian childhood, showcases the behaviors one might expect from fairies, dwarves, selkies, and the like. The prefaces in which Lunge-Larsen separately characterizes these elusive beings are often meatier than the tales themselves, and the colorful scratchboard artwork is more decorative than illuminating. Bib.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Beth Krommes. This collection features twenty-nine poems from diverse cultures that celebrate the beauty and fragility of the Earth, and includes poems by John Updike, Mary Kawena Pukui, Issa, and Sappho. Although the topic is rather broad, on balance the poems are those that will appeal to a wide audience. Krommes's colorful scratchboard and watercolor illustrations bring the poems to life.

Reviewer: Aishah Abdul-Musawwir

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Beth Krommes. In 1913, a boat became locked in the Arctic ice. Aboard were several Canadian scientists, two Inupiaq hunters, one hunter's wife and daughters, a crew of a dozen, forty sled dogs, and a cat. Martin walks a careful line between fact and fiction, telling the story from the point of view of the hunter's eight-year-old daughter. Art, narration, and information are all perfectly integrated in a story that makes a fine introduction to Arctic exploration.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2001

(2) PS Illustrated by Beth Krommes. Grandmother Winter keeps geese whose feathers she stitches into a lovely white quilt. When she shakes out the quilt, snowflakes fall from the sky. Once the animals (and children) have made ready for winter, Grandmother snuggles under the quilt to sleep until spring. Root's cadenced text, lyrical and sweet, is nicely matched by Krommes's handsome stylized art rendered in scratchboard and watercolor.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1999