Come Next Season

Kim Norman's picture book doesn't have much plot — a family moves through the seasons at their rural lake property, and that's essentially it. But what it does have is lyrical, sensory-rich text that makes every page feel like a specific afternoon you've actually lived: the smell of pecan trees, tire swings, barns gone red in autumn light. Daniel Miyares's illustrations are warm and genuinely beautiful. The book won the Northern Lights Nature Award and earned enthusiastic notices from Kirkus, Booklist, and School Library Journal, all of which called out the read-aloud quality. The honest caveat is that readers looking for narrative tension or a story arc will find this a mood piece rather than a story. The rural setting may also feel unfamiliar to urban children. But for families who want a book that celebrates togetherness and the passage of seasons, this is close to perfect.