Copyright Date:
2019
Edition Date:
2019
Release Date:
02/18/20
Pages:
1 volume (unpaged)
ISBN:
3-7913-7409-5
ISBN 13:
978-3-7913-7409-3
Dewey:
E
LCCN:
2018965322
Dimensions:
34 cm.
Language:
English
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews
In the imaginary city of Bustletown, every season brings new adventures.As she did in series opener Winter (2019), Berner traces a set of recurring characters through seven two-page spreads: an apartment complex where many of the characters live; a farm-lined road leading to town; a train station; a neighborhood that includes a church, a kindergarten, and a cultural center; a downtown marketplace; a shopping mall; and a park. Readers of this title and its two seasonally publishing companions, Summer (Apr. 21) and Fall (Jul. 21), will see each setting develop with the seasons. The kindergarten, for example, goes from a patch of dirt to a fully functional building. In the outdoor marketplace, a family of storks builds a nest, hatches eggs, and migrates to warmer climes. In addition to these changes, each book features the town uniquely decorated for typical Western European holidays associated with each season (this is a German import). In the spring the cultural center is hung with Easter eggs; in the fall it hosts a pumpkin-carving contest. Each title is brilliantly detailed, and the consistency among them allows readers to imagine stories both within each volume and between them. Bustletown seems to be a mostly white community, and the few characters of color within—such as Santosh from India—dress in ethnic clothing, implying that they are visitors.The details delight—but not the diversity. (Board book. 3-6)
Kids will spend hours poring over the oversized pages of this joyfully illustrated book that looks at a bustling town's activities in spring.
It's springtime in this charming, busy town and there is a lot going on! A house gets a top-to-bottom spring cleaning and farm fields are being prepared for planting. People are shopping, commuting to work, constructing buildings, and meeting friends. If you look closer, you'll recognize the same characters appear on every page, each with their own story. There's Wilfred the jogger slipping on a banana peel and his friend Erica who comes to help him. Three cheerful nuns shop, chat, and share a snack at the cafe. A stork surveys all the activity from the sky while a mischievous fox scampers through the streets. In the tradition of Richard Scarry and Where's Waldo, this book encourages kids to return again and again to each spread, following along with the characters and inventing their own stories. They'll recognize parts of their own world, while also learning about the endless ways we live, work, and play in the spring.