I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This was such a beautiful picture book. Can't wait to send a copy home with our kids here at the library.

This children's book reminds me of the books I read as a child. A little nostalgic, just beautiful And such a cute story about friendship!

Okay, I want this author/illustrator to go work at Pixar and turn this story into an Oscar winning animated short. It can be done. The story is quite simple. A cat goes for a walk and eats her lunch under a blooming tree. A dog comes along to read his book. They sit together under the tree and start a sweet friendship when a blossom falls from the tree and is batted back and forth. A simple but beautiful story that has beautiful illustrations to match.

Great story for kids about friends and sharing! We enjoyed reading the story together and each of my kids loved that it was from the cat and dogs perspective.
Perfect story for spring!

This was fine and sweet and positive, but nothing mind blowing. Animals that are this intensely anthropomorphized in a 'realistic' manner weird me out just a bit.

3.5~4★
The illustrations are five-star. Absolutely gorgeous, with blossoms that could almost set off a bout of sneezing! The cat and the dog are individual characters, unlike each other but something like people.

The story, such as it is, is simple. On the cover is a small bench with one tiny bird under clouds of pink blossoms.

A cat goes for a walk on a beautiful day, taking a basket with food. She spreads out a cloth on the bench next to her to lay out her lunch. The bird is now in the tree.

Along comes a studious-looking dog wearing glasses and carrying a book. He notices the bench is full.

"'Oh, I'm sorry' he said.
'I can find somewhere else. . . '

'It's OK,' said Cat.
And she moved her lunch to make room."

As they sit quietly, under the tree which now has two birds, a breeze flutters the blossoms and one lands on Cat's nose. She sniffs and blows it off.

It flies over and lands on Dog's nose! He sniffs and puffs it off, too, landing in her sushi.

Then she offers him a bit of lunch, he accepts, and they enjoy their time together.

If you look, you will see here and there in the air and the trees, two little birds. They are almost hidden. But at the end of the book, after Cat and Dog have left, they are sitting snuggled together in the middle of the bench.

The artist loves Spring and the blossoms, and it is a beautiful book to browse. I don't know what I'd expect children to make of it. I would ask them to find the birds, I think.

It's nice to make a new friend, but we don't encourage children to accept food from strangers, particularly sushi. The illustrations and the tone of the book are too beautiful to give it less than four stars, but I have misgivings about the food I'd have been more comfortable with a piece of fruit, I think!

I included several pictures in my Goodreads review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children's Books for the preview copy.

I didn’t feel like this book had enough of a plot to make it a worthwhile read with my 1.5 and 6 year olds. I also think it ended rather abruptly - I didn’t even realize it had ended until it said something about the author.

A sweet, simple and stylish book about friendships that can blossom from anywhere and anything.

I think the most important thing about this book is the stunning illustrations. They are so beautiful and words are almost not needed. The story can be told through watching the illustrations. They almost come to life as you read this book.

A brilliant book to read and share with younger children. Also great to share and study the illustrations with older children.

One for the bookshelf for sure!

In Blossom is an odd little duck of a book. There's not a whole lot of plot here -- cat and dog share a bit of spring peace on a bench under a cherry tree. There's a little hint of a manners lesson included, but not much else. I usually prefer a little more story than you'll find here, but in this case the amount of plot was somehow just right.

The illustrations are muted but lovely. They convey a real sense of peace. I don't think this will appeal to kids who enjoy a lot of action or bright colours on the pages, but I do think it would be the perfect book to read when it's time to wind down. This is the kind of book that leads you to your internal quiet place.

4.5 stars for this lovely little bit of polite, shared solitude.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lincoln Children's Books for providing me with a DRC of this book.

It was a cute photo book with beautiful illustrations and a short story. I felt some stillness while reading the story.

This is a sweet, but not syrupy, story about the beginning of a friendship. Beautiful pictures and short story.

This was a delightful minimalist story of a cat and dog becoming friends on a lovely spring day beneath a Japanese cherry tree in full bloom. Strangers at the outset, they share a park bench, and after having the shared experience of a blossom landing on their noses, they acknowledge each other. I just found it weird (maybe it's just me) that Cat offered to share her food after the blossom landed on it - like, here Dog, since you eat everything, you won't mind that it's contaminated, right? :-P I know I'm being picky; it's a lovely story of springtime friendship with beautiful illustrations capturing the soft grace of a cherry tree in bloom!

The art!!!!!!!!!

This was such a beautiful book. It was so breathtakingly refreshing and pretty I wish the one I read wasn't an ebook.

The story was cute too, a little simple but still really cute. The art definitely made it worthwhile.

Would definitely get for a younger child in my life.

This is a quiet book that make me feel calm when I read it. The illustration, the setting and everything really makes me happy. The kind of happy that is quiet but fill your heart the most. I adore this book and I think it would be an amazing read for parents and their kids. It teach you about friendship, and how it can appear in the most random places as long as you open your heart :)

A simple story about the beauty of spring and the beginning of a friendship, In Blossom is a short, easy read for beginner readers. Don’t be deceived though, the short nature of it doesn’t mean there isn’t things for children to appreciate and learn from it. An appreciation for nature, being polite, and learning to make friends can all be gleaned from this beautiful book.

The illustrations feel clean, crisp, and delicate. A bit like a clean white linen sheet that you’ve dried on your clothesline for the first time of the year. They’re beautiful! I really appreciated the time that went into drawing the flora on all the pages.

It’ll be interesting to see this book in print. Because of the simplicity and the low volume of pages, I feel like a conventional hardcover picture book will be overwhelming for it, despite that being the best format for the artwork. I would definitely use this book for Ana, who is beginning to read. It has a good mix of simple sentences and uncommon words that would be a good starting point for her without being overwhelming, which is why I kind of hope its printed in a beginning reader size as well!

In Blossom by Cheon Yooju
Overall, this book would make a gorgeous addition to ANY shelf and we can’t wait to get our own copy! This book happens to be available in Korean as well!

Such a magical book! Illustrations are very spare, but so effective! They match the mood of the story to perfection. I'm not sure kids will get it, but one on one perhaps. beautiful story. A good one to read about friendship on Valentine's Day! Not mushy or gushy, just sweet!

This is a truly lovely book. It is winningly illustrated in black and white which makes it feel calm, un-rushed and peaceful. The language is simple yet engaging; for example: "It was a sun twinkling day."

The story line is basic. A cat goes out to have a picnic lunch while a dog comes outside to read. They peaceably co-exist until the end of the story when they begin to interact.

So many children's books are lively, bright and colorful. This one shows that there is room for books that are quiet as well. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this highly appealing book. The opinions are my own.

This feels like a children's book written and illustrated by a minimalist. And so (as the exact opposite, a collector) I read it three times and still don't really 'get it'.
The pictures are subdued and lack colour (even though the setting is spring). So it lacks stimulus for younger children to be engaged. The words are nice and simple so it could possibly be used as an introductory reader story but it's very short so a child could easily memorize the book before they knew how to actually 'read' it. My five year old niece is doing this right now. She will 'read' me a book but only one of the five she has memorized. While a great showing of her talent in memorization, we keep having to remind her that it's not the same as reading.

I am assuming the use of a cat and dog is as our primary characters is to show that people/animals can be friends with the most unlikely partner. In this case, a cat and a dog that are usually at odds with one another become 'unlikely' friends by the end. And that the use of sushi is an attempt to add a multicultural aspect to the story. Unfortunately for me even after reading it three times, I can honestly say that I was bored, never mind how the average child is likely to feel.
Now, that said, maybe a child that feels overwhelmed a lot would love the simplicity of this story. There may be an audience for it; I just don't think it's for the broad audience of most children.

The other thing that struck me is how odd it is to offer food that has had fluff (pollen) land on it to someone. Perhaps I have a bit of a germ phobia but it just felt weird to offer someone food that has had things landed on it flying around in the air. I get that the fluff is being used as the 'connection' between the dog and cat to actual chat with one another; but I just can't get over how odd it is to me.

Overall, this isn't a bad story. The morale is good and the overall sense of the story is fine. I just can't imagine reading or gifting it to any of the small children in my life.

This is such an exquisite and delicate picture book! In spare but lovely language and finely wrought, pastel-coloured illustrations, artist and author Cheon Yooju presents the story of Cat who prepares to eat her lunch on a park bench on an early spring day when the trees are in blossom. Dog, too, comes to the park to read on this “sun twinkling”, “breeze blowing” day. Because of the wind, a petal flutters back and forth between the two seated on the bench, encouraging them to acknowledge each other. Friendship, like the world around Cat and Dog, is suddenly in blossom, too.

Because of the delicacy of the art, this is a picture book that is best shared not in a group setting but between two people: two children (in a buddy read), a parent and a child, or even between two grown-ups. Adults who share the book with kids could have some interesting discussions about how friendships can start in surprising ways.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group—Lincoln Children’s Books for providing me with a free digital copy of the book for reviewing.

I have to confess up front that I had no idea if this author's first name was Cheon or Yooju. Net Galley has her name as "Cheon Yooju", but the book cover has it as "Yooju Cheon," and the book cover is in English, so did this mean that her last name was Cheon? Fortunately, my local library, which has this book, came to my rescue because it has her name listed as by "Yooju, Cheon" - so there you have it! Last name is Yooju! How confused we are in the west about Eastern practices and culture, huh?!

Anyway, I was charmed by Cheon Yooju's book which features simple, but beautifully elegant illustrations, sparse, but meaning-laden text, and drawings (by Cheon Yooju) which effectively conveyed as many words as the text did. Dog meets cat and rather than fight with the cat ending up a tree, they both sit on a bench under the tree and enjoy the breeze and the blossoms falling, and then...something clicks! I loved it and I commend Cheon Yooju's work as a worthy read and a worthy art work. And now I hold the record for most uses of Cheon Yooju's name in a review! Yeay me! (And yeay Cheon Yooju!)