Go, Crow

Monosyllabic rhymes build toward an invigorating account of a corvid’s active day in Kamphuis’s skillfully spare story. The solitary crow—with its sleek body and sharp beak—stars in every spread as, from first “glow,” the bird endeavors to “go,” flight taking it through wind (“blow”) and above farmland (“grow”). Spotting a pale-skinned farmworker planting seeds (“sow”), the avian subject swoops in for a snack only to be quickly shooed away (“foe”). Airborne once more, the protagonist heads back to its nest—the true nature of its errand revealed at last (“Oh!”) as a peachy dusk settles upon the page. Digital illustrations with a grainy, screen-print vibe embrace organic curvature; dot leaves fill sinuous tree limbs that reach toward the sky, and tilled soil twists like tree rings. The crisp simplicity of the text and art generates a timelessness that enables this work to soar. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)