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Maurice the brown bear is too impatient to hibernate. He leaves his cave (and his mother) to look for spring; he’s never seen it before. He asks several forest animals where he can find it, but advice like Robin’s “Everything in its time” doesn’t clarify anything for Maurice.
When a snowflake lands on his nose, he’s sure it’s spring, even though it stings. He gathers enough of the white, cold spring to bring to his cave to show his mother and the other animals, but before he can show them what he has in his scarf, he falls asleep. He doesn’t wake up until the cold weather is over. By then, his evidence of spring has melted in his scarf.
When Mama leads Maurice through the woods, they walk past green buds, rushing streams, and fields of colorful flowers--all signs of spring. On the last double-page spread, all the forest animals gather to play on the Great Hill to celebrate Maurice’s first spring.
Berger’s (Forever Friends) paper collage illustrations make this book memorable. Letters and numbers appear on the trees, the entrance of the cave, and on the squirrel’s tail and jacket. The frozen stream looks like a faded receipt, and the forest appears on loose leaf pages.
Many of the stylish animals wear red. The deer and rabbit wear red polka-dots; the mother bear wears red high-heel shoes, and Maurice has a red scarf knotted around his neck. The blue and white snowflakes are elaborate in design and appear 3D when they are pinned to the night sky.
After reading this book, discussions could be had about the signs of all the seasons.
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Finding Spring