Spring for Sophie by Yael Werber; illustrated by Jen Hill, 2017
I love books that inspire children to stop and take note of the world around them. Spring for Sophieby Yael Werber does just that. It is a beautiful story that encourages children to use their senses to identify the changing seasons.
A young girl named Sophie is tired of snow and asks her parents how she will know when spring is coming. They respond that spring comes slowly and that she should use her five senses to look for hints of the upcoming season. Outside, Sophie carefully observes her surroundings and discovers hints of spring. She listens for birds, feels the snow melt beneath her feet, smells the Earth, sees buds emerge from the ground, and tastes rain drops. The lovely illustrations highlight each of Sophie’s discoveries capturing the joy children can find in nature.
It has been a long winter here in New Jersey, so I have fielded a lot of questions from my children about when spring will finally arrive. Spring for Sophie has inspired our family to search for signs of spring on our walks to and from school. It brings me so much joy to see my two-year old stop to point out flowers peeking out from the Earth and watch my five-year-old close his eyes and listen for birds chirping. We live in such a busy world and it is so wonderful to stop and take a minute to enrich children’s senses by taking things slow and enjoying nature.
