This visually and textually stunning book depicts the arrival of dawn’s light in a host of quiet and profound moments. Watercolor, pencil, and digital collage illustrations handsomely framed against white backdrops portray intimate vignettes from nature. Carefully chosen words flow from one panel to the next, illuminating the arrival of the day with beauty, humor, and judicious alliteration and onomatopoeia. For instance, a quartet of panels chronicles a ladybug’s ascent of a single blade of grass, brimming with dew: “climb, quench, drip, drop.” A single songbird, a canopy of birds, and an emerging arrow of geese are captioned with “call, chorus, flock, formation.”Arresting and quiet, this uncomplicated picture book offers literary meditation.

"The book is a testament to Martin's immense artistic talents. Truly stunning." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

With gorgeous artwork and a spare text, an award-winning picture-book creator gently celebrates the natural world through the lens of a sunrise.

As the sun slowly rises, many things happen in a small window of time. The world comes alive with the actions of animals, plants, clouds, and sky. A deer drinks, an owl wakes, a dandelion shimmers in the light. A ladybug climbs, a fish jumps, birds call in a chorus. Geese fly away in formation. A flower blooms. Beautifully illustrated with glowing imagery and written with a charming simplicity holding appeal for new readers, Marc Martin's ode to the slow-blooming beauty of a sunrise and the life that unfolds in its radiance narrows the lens to show the wonder of time passing.