(2) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. This adventure of discovery kicks off on the title-page spread with an adult and child walking a dog. The story's second-person voice immediately engages readers: "If you found a little ball on the grass and it was there for days, you could take it home." What about a flower? An empty box? A kitten? Each one ends up at the child's home. Henkes constructs the text conditionally, which will spark many conversations with young children about what is fair for the taking: if the ball was there for multiple days; if the flower sprung forth from a crack in the sidewalk; if the box was on the curb as garbage; and if the kitten was scared and "didn't belong to anyone and it didn't have a mother and you got permission from everyone," you would be "lucky" to take them home. The story taps into the inherent caretaking tendencies of many young children: the kitten is safe in a new home, sleeping in the warm box, playing with the red ball and dog. In nearly every spread, Dronzek's brightly colored illustrations in multicolored borders appear on the recto; the text, perfect for emerging readers, is placed on the verso. Tableaux, dominated by simple square shapes, are reduced to their essentials: ball, flower, box, kitten -- all "happy" in a warm home because the child took the time to notice them.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(1) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. A pigtailed child visits her grandparents at the shore, where the waves call them to explore the sands just outside the steps of their small seaside house. Amid the colorful detritus left behind by the waves, the girl and her grandmother search for shells of every kind. "Grandma reminds me that the shells are little houses. And that gets me thinking," the child says, as she begins to wonder about the inhabitants of these tiny homes. Her mind wanders further out into the deep, where one could find "fish as big as cars...lost toys, lost coins, lots of lost things that were cried over." The girl's grandfather, too, looks in awe at the water and his grandchild, noting that she just may "know it all" someday. A collection of shells, though, is enough to satisfy the child until that someday arrives. Dronzek's recognizably bold-hued, naturalistic acrylic illustrations maintain the windswept qualities of a visit to the beach, infusing the quiet and meditative narrative with movement. Thoughtful page design alternates between spot art, images within a borderless ellipse-shaped frame, and full-bleed double-page spreads, uniting the child reader and the child narrator on their journeys to consider both the small and the vast. Henkes and Dronzek's latest pitch-perfect collaboration (Summer Song, rev. 3/21) offers an intimate multigenerational narrative that captures children's hopeful curiosity about our shared home.

Reviewer: Grace McKinney | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. Henkes and Dronzek complete their seasonal quartet (beginning with When Spring Comes, rev. 3/16) with a joyful ode celebrating summer and its myriad natural wonders and seasonal sights and sounds. The rich shades of green and blue that grace the cover are carried throughout, emphasizing Henkes's ­observation, "If I had to pick one color, / I'd say Summer is green. / Green on green on green. / Summer is a green song." And this summer song is heard everywhere. "Most of the time, birds are part of the song--in the air, of the sky, and sometimes rain and thunder are, too." Bugs and bees, air conditioners and sprinklers, fans and lawnmowers--all part of the summer song. And then, when "Summer gets bored / and wants to try something new," the song changes, signaling the turning of the season and the arrival of fall. Dronzek's bright acrylic paintings, employing bold black outlines and saturated with luscious greens and blues, reflect both the energy of summer and the gentle rhythm of the text. Small oval-shaped vignettes are interspersed throughout, but it's the glowing full-bleed spreads that--like the fireflies that sing "to each other / without a sound"--especially shine. Vividly colored animals and flowers feature prominently in the illustrations, adding movement and a rich sense of natural life. Melodic and evocative, this book captures the essence of summer and its unique seasonal song.

Reviewer: Emmie Stuart | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2020

(3) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. In this quietly joyful paean to fall, lush acrylic paintings in vivid autumnal colors foreground "frisky" gray squirrels; plump orange pumpkins; and shiny red apples that look "like ornaments." The brief, lyrical text is pitched perfectly to preschoolers. As with its companion, When Spring Comes, this board book edition's smaller trim size doesn't diminish the impact of Dronzek's bold compositions.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(2) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. This third season-themed picture book (When Spring Comes; In the Middle of Fall) is a lyrical ode to winter and its many moods. The gently rhythmic text uses descriptive language to bring wintertime to vivid life. Uncluttered, expressive acrylics capture the contradictions of the season. Expressive full-bleed spreads steal the show, especially at the book's close when winter "shrinks away bit by bit" and glorious, full-color spring arrives.

Reviewer: Julie Danielson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2018

(3) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. A picture-book ode to spring blooms again in a new board-book edition. The gently rhythmic text and lush, vibrant paintings in springtime hues capture the season's sights, sounds, and surprises--all of which will draw in a toddler audience. Repetition and alliteration help make the text well suited to reading aloud. Dronzek's bold compositions aren't diminished by the smaller trim size.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2016

(3) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. This perfect picture-book collaboration is here offered as a smaller-size board book. In Henkes's plain, poetic text, a young girl muses on birds, their colors and sizes, their movements and mysteries. Dronzek's masterful acrylic paintings really deserve the larger picture-book format, but their strong compositions, rich colors, and confident lines make this an effective adaptation.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2009

(1) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. This companion to When Spring Comes is a quietly joyful paean to autumn and to the changeability of the seasons. Lush acrylic paintings in vivid autumnal colors foreground "frisky" gray squirrels; nodding, browned sunflower heads; plump orange pumpkins; and shiny red apples that look "like ornaments." The text is brief but lyrical, pitched perfectly to preschoolers.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(1) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. In a gently rhythmic text and lush, vibrant paintings in a variety of springtime hues, Henkes and Dronzek usher in spring, capturing the season's sights, sounds, and surprises. The narrative follows spring's fickle progress, including an unexpected snowfall. Several stylistic devices (repetition, alliteration, line breaks) help create mood, and the varied page design perfectly marries text and art.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2016

(2) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. A series of bedtime questions ("Where does a railroad train go at night?") receive answers in this book first published in 1953 with illustrations by Rowand. The lulling litany is sweetly updated in Dronzek's blanket-soft, moon-drenched art. Some unlikely groupings (tiger and giraffe) presage the satisfying conclusion in which it is shown that the creatures are dolls, toys, and pets.

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

(2) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. Griffith spins a lilting text from an inviting simile: "moonlight slides like butter..." The protagonist is a sleepy rabbit who, by story's end, emerges from his burrow and "dances in the field / butter on his head!" Dronzek's nocturnal scenes, in deeply saturated acrylics, are dramatized by the play of that buttery light among the shadows, drawing readers into the story's quiet mystery.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2012

(1) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. In the voice of a young child, Henkes muses on birds, their colors and sizes, their movements and mysteries. Dronzek's acrylic paintings, one part naive, one part William Steig, focus and expand the plain, poetic text. In the final pages we meet our narrator, joining a robin in song. We have moved from bird watching through bird wondering to bird being.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2009

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. In the steadily falling snow, Rabbit discovers two turnips. He leaves one outside Donkey's door, who leaves it for Goat. And so the gift is passed anonymously from friend to friend, until all the animals gather to share it together. The repetitive text and wintry acrylics match this tale's gentle tone. Chinese characters adorn some of the spreads. An author's note provides source information.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(2) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. This ingenious book invites the very young to rethink absolutes. "Pink is for crow..." the book begins, confoundingly, accompanied by a picture of a sleek black bird. A page turn reveals the explanation--"when it has just hatched from its egg"--and a rich, vibrant painting shows featherless pink baby birds in their nest. This distinctly unconventional book will reward preschoolers' attention.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(1) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. Hen takes her chicks to the garden for "sweet itty-bitty beans and potato bugs," until the day they find the path guarded by a loud and grumpy dog. Hen despairs, but all three chicks think they can best the brute. The story structure has the appeal of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff"; the succinct narration moves right along. With its boldly colored art and chant-along repetitions, this will serve both preschool groups and beginning readers well.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2003

(3) PS Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. In a book with a lot of toddler appeal, everyone from the "quick gray squirrel" to the "fat bouncy children" plays in the snow on a winter day. "The rabbit wants to play. / Hop, hop, hop, / shy little rabbit." Complementing the simplicity of the repetitive, occasionally rhyming text, the acrylic artwork leads up to a double-page spread showing everyone enjoying the day together.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert