How Mama Brought the Spring

How Mama Brought the Spring by Fran Manushkin. Illustrated by Holly Berry. In a book that’s been perfect for the weather of late, a young Chicago girl refuses to get out of bed until spring comes. Her sympathetic mother tells Rosy a story “with not a word left out” of when she herself felt the same way as a girl in Belarus. Her mother enticed her out of bed with a song and a mysterious project. Both involved a rare occurrence: having eggs and flour, butter, cheese, milk and sugar all at the same time. As they go on, the daughter still not knowing what they’re making, shawls come off inside and animals come out of their dens outside. With a pour, swirl, sizzle, FLIP golden circles line up on the blue tablecloth like sunflowers against a blue sky. Papa and daughter watch as Mama performs the last bit of magic, filling and rolling. Finally, the family sits down at the table to eat the delicious surprises (recipe included). The snow and bad moods have all melted away. Holly Berry’s beautiful watercolor and colored pencil illustrations are the perfect companion, using a modern folk style. Like Jan Brett’s, the borders tell a large part of the story, but here, they tilt and swirl with patterns blending, carrying the story from Chicago to Minsk and from winter to spring.

Journal Notes

I found a new template for my site. I'm not entirely happy with it, but it's better than the old one. And it has a nifty tag cloud, so you can look for topics of interest - fantasy or parenting or whatever - and get a list of books with that tag. Of course, it's only as good as my tags, but it's something. Let me know what you think!

Also, erratum: I mistakenly conflated Thomas and Milton Friedman in my review of The Shock Doctrine. Mea culpa! Um, they have the same last name and write books on globalization. charles_midair will be happy to hear that Thomas, the author of The World is Flat is still alive and well. My only consolation is that I didn't throw in Kinky Friedman.