Sun Above and Blooms Below: A Springtime of Opposites

PreS-Gr 2—Chernesky and Swan, creators of Pick a Circle, Gather Squares: A Fall Harvesting of Shapes (Albert Whitman, 2013), have teamed up again, this time to showcase opposites. Miss Ava's class has spring fever. Despite the rain, she takes her students on a field trip. In this rhyming adventure, the kids discover "a springtime of opposites" on their journey to a local farm. Riding on the school bus, they soar up hills and back down. They travel a crooked lane and pass straight wood fences. At the farm, they see big and small chickens and white and black barn cats. Each pair of opposites is emphasized in bold text. The highlight of the trip is watching baby chicks hatch in the warm incubator. When the students board the bus to head for home, they realize that "Springtime opposites are everywhere!" Although the story is engaging, some of the rhymes are a bit awkward ("A rooster crowed atop the coop/At the bottom, chicken poop!"). The brightly colored collage illustrations fill the pages, adding some country charm to the story and offering plenty of rustic details for children to look at.