This Is the Summer

8 summery picture books by Donald Crews

Aug 02, 2022

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It’s only the start of August, and for many of us, summer is coming to an end. My husband and kids head back to school in two weeks, and while I’m excited to have us return to our regular routines, it’s bittersweet. I know we only have so many more summers while our kids are young and actually want to spend time with us.

I scored a dusty box of vintage Donald Crews picture books earlier this summer. Most are thin, flimsy Scholastic editions; it feels like they came from an old classroom. They aren’t quite the rich experience you get from a Crews hardback. Still, I’m pleased to have them in our collection. My kids have outgrown most concept books, but these aren’t average concept books; these are works of art. A Donald Crews picture book, whether he’s working with a collaborator or creating it alone, is always beautifully done and poetically told. Even his simplest work can have a profound effect. I recently caught my five-year-old son sitting in a warm patch of sunlight on his bed, looking admiringly at Crews’ Freight Train — it was a tiny flash of a scene, but it’s one I won’t forget.

What struck me about this collection of books is how much they feel like summer. There’s a beach covered in a galaxy of starfish, cascading sunflowers basking in the moonlight, a colorful parade, and a night at the fair — even the books without anything overtly summery are imbued with lightness and warmth. In all of his books, Crews reminds us to slow down and pay attention to the world around us, and what better season is there for that than summer?

This Is the Sunflower written by Lola M. Schaefer and illustrated by Donald Crews (2002)

Parade by Donald Crews (1983)

Night at the Fair by Donald Crews (1998)

When This Box Is Full written by Patricia Lillie and illustrated by Donald Crews (1993)

Freight Train by Donald Crews (1978)

How Many Snails? written by Paul Giganti Jr. and illustrated by Donald Crews (1988)

Shortcut by Donald Crews (1992)

Bigmama’s by Donald Crews (1991)

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