Spring Is for Strawberries

There’s nothing like the sounds and smells of the first farmers market of the year. The sweetness of fresh fruits and local vegetables permeates the air and breathes new life into our recipes just as the spring brings new life to the earth. This illustrated tale follows the budding friendship between two girls who meet at their local farmers market and reminds us that food is the great unifier of all humankind.

When a farm family brings their spring crops to a city farmers market, the farmer’s daughter befriends the daughter of a neighbourhood family doing their weekly shopping. Over the course of a year, the girls explore the bounty of each season. Sweet spring strawberries and crisp, fresh greens make way for corn on the cob, peppers, and a rainbow of tomatoes.

Fall brings pumpkin patches and the crunch of apples. The friends part at the final winter market, already looking forward to the sweet red strawberries that will unite them again next spring. Katherine Pryor’s lyrical celebration of seasonal local foods is brought to life by Polina Gortman’s portrait of a growing friendship between two children from seemingly different worlds.

Spring Is for Strawberries reminds us to seek pleasure in the changing harvests around us, and that all things — even friendships — have seasons worth waiting for.