Review: Perfect Spring Story for Younger Children
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 22, 2014
My Spring Day, a children's picture book written by Ally Nathaniel contains beautiful, colorful illustrations on every page. The adorable and sweet character personalities come to life as the story progresses. We learn about the interests of each child in the family. For example, the children participate in Abigail's four-leaf clover search, Adam's dig for earthworms, and enjoy the sun on their faces. One of our favorite pictures showed the children standing in the sun with their eyes closed as the sun beat down on their faces which was an activity that the main character, Gabi, loved to do. My daughter and I will often stop and enjoy spring day weather in a similar way on hot days.The book encourages family outdoor time emphasizing and revealing the first day of spring activities children can do to help build their sibling relationships. There's so much they can together! The story encourages the reader to spend quality time with the members in their family outdoors rather than staying cooped up indoors all day. The book also shows the characters helping each other get dressed and being involved in the other children's activities. Readers learn through Gabi's insights what they should wear on a spring day. She tells them that they might need to wear rainboots and a light jacket, because in the spring it can get wet and chilly outside. I love that the book ended with a picnic the whole family could enjoy! The parents packed all of their favorite foods and reminded them to wash their hands before they can see what's inside the picnic basket. It's a good thing they reminded them to wash hands, because Gabi had dirt under her fingernails. She decided not to use the shovels when digging for worms. Some children will just want to explore their environment hands-on! The author's words describe the sounds and feelings of spring time including bird singing, gentle breezes, and the warmth of the sun's rays. The book even makes reference to the fact that spring follows winter which helps younger children understand the season and their order better.After reading this story to my six-year-olds daughter, I was motivated to pack a picnic lunch and head for the park. I love finding ways that children can make connections to stories and relate. My daughter dug for worm that day and acted out several parts of the story just for fun!I recommend this book to children ages 3-8. Although, I believe younger children in this age range will enjoy it more. I hope that Ms. Ally will write more seasonal books and possibly include a few holiday-related themes as well. Thank you Ally for yet another wonderful story to share with young children!Disclaimer: I received a PDF copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review on Amazon through Story Cartel.