Boom Boom

What from the title and cover appears to be a celebration of the noisy excitement of a thunderstorm turns out to have a broader aim as readers follow a classroom of preschoolers through four seasons’ worth of explorations. First-time author Naberhaus contributes ultra-spare verse that dwells on the sounds and sights around the children: “BOOM BOOM/ Flash! Flash!/ drip drip/ Splash! Splash!” Chodos-Irvine—who knows her way around illustrating a storm after 2012’s Dinosaur Thunder—shows the children startled by initial roar of the storm (while most gather around a window to watch lightning strike, one boy crouches in the foreground, his hands pressed firmly over his ears). But soon that boy and all the rest are outdoors splashing in puddles, and as time passes, they are seen examining newly bloomed flowers, blowing dandelion fluff, and enjoying the “crunch crunch” of autumn—a sound that can represent both the raking of leaves and the chomping of apples, as Chodos-Irvine’s graphic, mixed-media prints reveal. Understated yet evocative. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt. (Oct.)