NORTH COUNTRY SPRING

Lindbergh (Nobody Owns the Sky, 1996, etc.) personifies spring as a voice ``deep as the river and high as a bird,'' calling all things in the north woods to awaken and begin—foxes and frogs, wild ducks and wolves, buds, bats, and bears. Rhymed couplets attempt to entice readers long cold, but fail to fully evoke the senses or engage the emotions. ``Swoop out, swift bat, flutter fast, flitter-flit./Snatch a moth on the wing; make a meal of it.'' The text bursts, leaps, tumbles, and wiggles, but never captures the anticipation and explosion of the season. In her debut, Sivertson turns animals and landscapes into impressionistic shapes of color with undelineated features, motif-like in their primitive forms. They whirl and swirl against textured canvases thick with paint, more pattern in motion than still life or scenery. The art is powerful and accomplished on its own, but in this context acts as a filter between the emotions summoned by the already straining text and readers. A glossary of ``Animal Notes'' provides brief facts about the creatures mentioned in the text. (Picture book. 4-7)