The First Day of May

December 18, 2023
Wordless panels mix the whimsical and the mundane in depicting a child’s exuberant outdoor exploits on the titular first of May. A view of clouds zooms in on one of houses and a vacant playground. As varied pink-skinned kids peek from their windows, one bored-seeming child, sporting a black bob and red dress, draws the book’s focus. A newscaster’s forecast of sun changes everything: snaking immediately toward the door, the child, proffered shoes and let loose outside, appears to take flight, drifting against royal blue skies. Back on land, encounters with animals, insects, and flowers become panel focal points before the youth—given a hot beverage and a blanket—settles into the grass for an outdoor nap. Giving a Totoro-esque vibe, vibrant primary and secondary colors lend energy to Coser Moreira’s stylistically unadorned drawings, whose minimally detailed protagonist communicates the season’s uplifting capabilities. Ages 4–8.

January 1, 2024
This wordless Portuguese import celebrates the joy of being outdoors from a distinctly childlike perspective. In sets of square panels that read like comics, cartoon images featuring thick outlines and limited solid colors introduce a community. We see playground equipment, children at windows, and various trees, all setting the stage for a youngster with pink skin and a black bob to discover that the weather has turned sunny and to head outdoors. But first, shoes! And off the starry-eyed child goes. The landscape alternately fills one large square per page, then several small squares, all conveying a fluidity between reality and perception. The wind picks up, and the child flies through the air, past mountains and birds and over a river, first soaring, then floating like a leaf, finally settling near a clump of forest. On the ground, the child discovers flora and fauna large and small (sometimes distortedly so). The little one enjoys nature with a quirky physicality and soon tumbles down to rest, whereupon a pink-skinned hand reaches into the panel with a steaming mug and a pat on the head. Moreira's deceptively simple art is expressive, relying less on detail than on shape, line, and movement to evoke the fantastical experience of a beautiful day outside. A quirky and buoyant romp through spring. (Picture book. 3-7)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from January 1, 2024
First published in Portugal, this wordless book celebrates -- with abundant style -- the blossoming of spring. Most spreads convey the action in a series of four or six small, square panels. In the opening ones, an aerial perspective reveals, after clouds part, a neighborhood of homes. Inside one of those homes is a child who sees the sun is shining and bolts outside. She takes flight and visits a forest teeming with life. Moreira's tableaux -- with simple shapes and a palette of primarily reds, blues, greens, and browns -- are filled with clever surprises. The change in season is indicated via a calendar (a "30" page falls away to reveal a "1"), along with a newscaster on television whose speech bubble contains a sun. The protagonist's boundless energy propels the story. For example, in one early spread, the child's body, exaggeratedly elongated, winds around the living room furniture, seeking an exit to the outdoors; she's so eager to get outside that her body flies headlong toward the door -- readers see her from a side view -- only to be halted by a parent who reminds her to put on her shoes. It is playful and exceptionally funny moments like this that make the story sing; many preschoolers will relate. Throughout, changes in scale accentuate the child's wondrous forest discoveries, which includes a grasshopper crooning into a microphone. A breath of fresh air, in more ways than one. Julie Danielson

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from March 1, 2024

K-Gr 2-No words are found in these pages, and none are necessary in this visual ode to spring from Portugal. Readers follow a girl with tan or reddish pink skin, a black bob, red dress, and white leggings in a varying number of comic book-style panels per page featuring a palette of primarily green, blue, red, brown, white, and yellow. Each element in the very spare illustrations is purposeful and moves the story forward. A bored little girl is delighted by the forecast of sunny weat her and rushes to go outside, only stopping to put on her shoes when her caregiver blocks her way. Slowly, the door opens and the starstruck girl enters a world of green grass, tall trees, and white clouds. Then the spring breeze takes her up and away. She soars over the miniature land below, alighting in front of a vast and welcoming woodland. Like Alice in Wonderland, she travels the path through it, delighting in the wildlife and pausing to dance to the music of a cricket. A book that is perfect in its simplicity and scope, this allows young children to pore over the pages and older ones to venture into a graphic-novel format in a refreshing, accessible way. VERDICT All the delights of spring are found within the covers in this charming, wordless picture book. Recommended for all libraries.-Catherine Callegari

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2024
Preschool-Grade 2 *Starred Review* As the clouds part and a blue sky beckons, a child steps out of her home and into a world that feels fresh and full of tiny wonders. A gentle breeze carries her up and over a mountain stream as the sun casts her shadow like the birds' on the ground below. Landing before a copse of trees, she follows a path through the woods to find creatures big and small also out and exploring the day. After a vigorous dance session to the croons of a grasshopper, she admires trees and flowers until a butterfly leads her frolicking off to a tumbling, grumbling collapse. A contented nap brings a fitting end to the story. Wordless and presented in sequentially squared panels luxuriously framed with white space, this digitally illustrated romp was originally published in Portugal and extremely well received overseas. Clean black lines and the vibrant, largely primary-color palette lend a charming simplicity to Moreira's bold, nostalgic art. The newness of this day and the sheer delight that the child enjoys during each moment of unfettered exploration is infectious. Moreira sustains a slightly fantastical child-centered focus--adults play purely functional roles here. The overall vibe is Ivan Brunetti by way of Rowboat Watkins, and readers will sense the opportunities waiting just outside their own doors. A joyous adventure, bright and brimming with exuberance.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2024
First published in Portugal, this wordless book celebrates -- with abundant style -- the blossoming of spring. Most spreads convey the action in a series of four or six small, square panels. In the opening ones, an aerial perspective reveals, after clouds part, a neighborhood of homes. Inside one of those homes is a child who sees the sun is shining and bolts outside. She takes flight and visits a forest teeming with life. Moreira's tableaux -- with simple shapes and a palette of primarily reds, blues, greens, and browns -- are filled with clever surprises. The change in season is indicated via a calendar (a "30" page falls away to reveal a "1"), along with a newscaster on television whose speech bubble contains a sun. The protagonist's boundless energy propels the story. For example, in one early spread, the child's body, exaggeratedly elongated, winds around the living room furniture, seeking an exit to the outdoors; she's so eager to get outside that her body flies headlong toward the door -- readers see her from a side view -- only to be halted by a parent who reminds her to put on her shoes. It is playful and exceptionally funny moments like this that make the story sing; many preschoolers will relate. Throughout, changes in scale accentuate the child's wondrous forest discoveries, which includes a grasshopper crooning into a microphone. A breath of fresh air, in more ways than one.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)