Caldecott Medal winner Trina Schart Hyman's lovely paintings quietly relate one year in the active life of four contemporary children who live in their extended family somewhere in rural New England. They experience the Fourth of July, an August heat wave at the beach, colorful autumn leaves, and winter snow. Hyman's paintings perfectly accompany John Updike's twelve "calendar" poems - one of each for each month of the year. An earlier edition of these poems was published for children in 1965, an elegant edition long out of print illustrated by Wisconsin artist Nancy Ekholm Burkert. Updike has made a number of changes in his poems for this new edition. Occasionally famous authors from world of adult literature write well for children - not often - but Updike hits it just right in his friendly observations about the seaons. (Ages 5-11)