A review by backonthealex
And Then Comes Summer by Tom Brenner

4.0

This lyrical ode to summer captures everything that is wonderful about this favorite season. Once school is out and cubbies are cleaned of cookie crumbs, “the days stretch out like a slow yawn,” according to our narrator, an unnamed boy in a blue striped shirt. Summer is filled with lemonade stands, hide-and-seek, biking, parades, fireworks and ice cream. Summer is topped off with a family trip to the lake for fishing, old friends and, of course, a campfire to cozy around. Brenner has managed to encapsulate the essence of the perfect summer, evoking memories of my own childhood and that of my Kiddo. Jaime Kim’s acrylic and digital illustrations are done in a happy summer palette of greens, blues and yellow, with lots of Johnny-Jump-Ups sprinkling the pages like sprinkles on an ice cream cone. This is the book that reminds me each time I’ve read it to the kids just how much and why I love summer (as do my young readers).