Praise for Hi, Koo! : A Year of Seasons : - 2015 ALA Notable Children's Books List Award Winner Kirkus Starred Review Long before photography, poets took to haiku, the poetic equivalent of a snapshot, and painters to the suggestive medium of watercolor to capture the essence of moments in nature. Caldecott Honoree Muth ( Zen Shorts , 2005) employs both, with the help of his playful panda Koo, to present 26 moments through the seasons. Though light in tone and geared toward pre-reader eyes and interests, the mostly outdoor scenes Muth depicts command serious attention from all. The first page simultaneously demonstrates both Muth's adherence to haiku's three-line form rather than its traditional five-seven-five syllabic sequence and his exquisite use of white space. "Autumn, / are you dreaming / of new clothes?" reads the text as Koo reaches up to try to catch a handful of falling leaves. One of the few scenes referencing indoor living hilariously comes in early spring: "too much TV this winter / my eyes are square / let's go Out and play." Two children and Koo stand in front of a large television, the whites of the children's eyes boxed and zombielike and Koo's, two solid black squares. A more reflective, deeply moving spring moment finds the children alone with a book in the woods, Muth's delicate watercolor and subtle inking deftly suggesting the forest's shifting scope.

Throughout, condensed poetic image coupled with spare illustration yields huge effect; in a word, magical.