Un-brella by Scott E. Franson.

This wordless picture book is pure imagination.  It features a little girl who has a magical umbrella that changes the season.  So when she sees it is snowing out, she puts on her sunglasses, swimsuit and flippers.  She heads into the snow, opens her umbrella and suddenly grass is green, flowers are blooming and the sun is bright in a small area around her.  The book then shows her in the hot summer sun wearing all of her winter clothing and holding her umbrella, creating winter all around her.

The appeal of this book is in both the content and the illustrations.  The concept of being able to create your own season will be appealing to children and to have it connected to an umbrella is marvelous, because that is what umbrellas do to a smaller extent.  The illustrations feature sharp, computer graphics.  My favorite spreads are the pictures from above showing the path she has taken carving green grass out of the snow or snow out of the green grass. 

This is a charming book.  Being wordless, I would recommend it as a lap read rather than one to use with a group.  It’s friendly cover will get it snatched off of library shelves.