In a still-snowy landscape, a robin lands on a seemingly bare branch and finds a pale pink, barely-there bud. There are other signs spring is emerging as the bird takes to the sky: It flies over greening farm fields and rivers with remnants of ice in flowing water. The robin eventually lands again, this time in a decidedly urban environment. It goes from a public fountain to a tree outside an apartment building. Inside the building, over the course of the days and weeks that follow, various residents watch through their windows as the bird builds a nest, lays and cares for its bright blue eggs, and tends to its hatchlings. The charm of this wordless book is in the gouache, watercolor, and digital art through which the story and changing seasons unfold, and in the way it deftly captures the simple joy that a bird—and nature—offers young and old alike. (Ages 2-5)

★“A very wise book, speaking volumes...Share this at story hours, or hand it to the child struggling to read; this communicates essential truths without a word. Marvelous.”—School Library Journal, starred review

★“This sweet, understated story is wordless—a perfect way to tell it, as it requires youngsters to relate to the illustrations in a unique, profoundly personal way...Refreshing, beautiful, moving, and meaningful.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★“With cinematic fluidity, Dion’s marvellous watercolor, gouache, and digital illustrations evocatively convey Singh’s thoughtful wordless narrative...This multilayered wordless picture book has much to say about nature, renewal, and resiliency.”—Booklist, starred review

Once, as the winter ended, a little bird emerged to find the world had gone quiet.

The streets were empty and the playgrounds still. Puzzled but determined, the bird explores the town in search of a suitable place to nest. The residents of an apartment building notice her resting in a tree outside and take comfort in her song. Watching through their windows, they look beyond their lives and pause to appreciate the wonders of nature. The bird chooses to make this community her home and builds a nest, an act of resilience and hope that inspires the humans to emerge as well, reminding them that natural rhythms continue, seasons change and life goes on. Once again.

This wordless picture book is a hopeful contemplation of our interconnectedness with the natural world and the joy that nature brings us, even in unusual times.

French version available, Il était une fois un oiseau.