If the extreme weather conditions that everyone has been experiencing around the world, especially in the last few months — unusually snowy and super-cold winter in the northern hemisphere; excessively hot and dry summer in the southern hemisphere — are anything to go by, it’s no longer possible to deny that climate change is well underway, and unfortunately, not for the better. Even here in equatorial Singapore, we are not spared: where we used to experience frequent showers and thunderstorms, in the last two months, we haven’t so much as seen a drop of rain, and as a result, all the poor plants are turning brown and wilting from the dry heat — in fact, February 2014 was the driest month here since 1869! Thus, the arrival of the milder conditions of spring (or autumn, as the case may be), is a harbinger of hope that maybe, just maybe, this crazy weather is temporary and that, fingers crossed, things will soon go back to normal.

But I digress.

In Spring Is Here, Mole wakes up to signs of spring in the air and excitedly rushes off to wake Bear, who is still hibernating in his cozy room. Alas, tickles and loud noises fail to wake his friend, so Mole takes great pains to cook up an elaborate plan, with unexpected results.

The warm and cozy illustrations by the author bring out the sweetness of Mole and Bear’s unlikely friendship, while the simple text and use of onomatopoeia make this a fun read-aloud for kids who are as excited as Mole about the arrival of spring.