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Dawn: Watch the World Awaken
"The book is a testament to Martin’s immense artistic talents. Truly stunning." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
With gorgeous artwork and a spare text, an award-winning picture-book creator gently celebrates the natural world through the lens of a sunrise.
As the sun slowly rises, many things happen in a small window of time. The world comes alive with the actions of animals, plants, clouds, and sky. A deer drinks, an owl wakes, a dandelion shimmers in the light. A ladybug climbs, a fish jumps, birds call in a chorus. Geese fly away in formation. A flower blooms. Beautifully illustrated with glowing imagery and written with a charming simplicity holding appeal for new readers, Marc Martin’s ode to the slow-blooming beauty of a sunrise and the life that unfolds in its radiance narrows the lens to show the wonder of time passing.
With gorgeous artwork and a spare text, an award-winning picture-book creator gently celebrates the natural world through the lens of a sunrise.
As the sun slowly rises, many things happen in a small window of time. The world comes alive with the actions of animals, plants, clouds, and sky. A deer drinks, an owl wakes, a dandelion shimmers in the light. A ladybug climbs, a fish jumps, birds call in a chorus. Geese fly away in formation. A flower blooms. Beautifully illustrated with glowing imagery and written with a charming simplicity holding appeal for new readers, Marc Martin’s ode to the slow-blooming beauty of a sunrise and the life that unfolds in its radiance narrows the lens to show the wonder of time passing.
48 pages, Hardcover
Published July 29, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
September 13, 2025
Simple text is paired with watercolor -soft edges, warm colors. Quiet. Images move from single page images to 3-4 panels going across the two page spread. Begins and ends with full two page spread showing the same scene, the first as light begins to appear and the last as the sun breaks over the distant hill. Beautiful.
October 27, 2025
A "slow-blooming beauty" of a book, perfect for dipping into with a child and seeing where each spread takes you.
March 14, 2026
„Morgendämmerung“
Wunderschönes Bilderbuch! Tolle Illustrationen mit extrem reduziertem „Text“, sprich „nur“ Wörtern, die aber so viel transportieren. Tolles Buch über Natur zum Erleben!
Wunderschönes Bilderbuch! Tolle Illustrationen mit extrem reduziertem „Text“, sprich „nur“ Wörtern, die aber so viel transportieren. Tolles Buch über Natur zum Erleben!
June 25, 2026
Beautiful pictures but I like a book with a storyline
September 7, 2026
WOWWWWWW! What a stunning gorgeous book, I want some prints of this one to hang on my wall. Absolutely love it! Recommended!
Review to come in November.
Review to come in November.
June 16, 2026
Absolutely stunning illustrations. I love the alternate page compositions that create a sense of movement throughout a day, season and the story as a whole. The ink usage gives a fantastic quality to the light depicted within the artwork.
November 10, 2025
While the author/illustrator is on the Australian continent and I am on the North American continent, we both have deep appreciation of dawn and watching nature awaken. Martin’s illustrations done with watercolor and pencil are stunning and capture what one can see at dawn by just being still and opening one’s eyers. I love this title and librarians would do well to share this title with adult art lovers and adult nature lovers. they will love it.
August 27, 2025
Wonderfully presented and poetic ode to the sights and sounds of a woodland area at dawn. A reminder of the wonders all around us, and the busy little lives going about their days.
July 24, 2025
Richie’s Picks: DAWN by Marc Martin, Candlewick/Candlewick Studio, July 2025, 48p., ISBN: 978-1-5362-3240-0
“Dawn is a feeling, a beautiful ceiling
The smell of grass just makes you pass into a dream
You're here today, no future fears
This day will last a thousand years
If you want it to”
– Moody Blues (1967)
“Dawn
dew
deer
sound
spring
still”
DAWN by Marc Martin is a gorgeous picture book that reveals not the tiniest sign of humanity anywhere. Instead, through multiple series of images, each frame accompanied by a single-word caption, the author-illustrator presents nature in all of its early-morning glory, as the sun begins to lighten the horizon.
“fly
fish
flight
follow
jump
catch
dive
swallow”
Among the events taking place, there is a deer drinking at a pond; dandelion fluff being blown away in the wind; a new butterfly leaving its chrysalis; a frog sticking out its tongue, but missing the passing insect; a fish who successfully nails its flying prey; and a spread showing a close-up of a solitary bird calling opposite a pair of trees filled with birds chorusing.
Perhaps, the most playful sequence is a four-frame spread of a ladybug who climbs a blade of grass, takes a drink, and is catapulted into the air as that drop of dew falls down and the blade straightens up:
“climb
quench
drip
drop”
The illustrations really are something else. Marc Martin’s digitally-altered watercolors are really what makes this a must-have that little ones will pore over for extended periods.
The near-wordless tale concludes with the sun escaping the distant hills and lighting the early morning. DAWN is an absolute not-to-miss treat!
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
“Dawn is a feeling, a beautiful ceiling
The smell of grass just makes you pass into a dream
You're here today, no future fears
This day will last a thousand years
If you want it to”
– Moody Blues (1967)
“Dawn
dew
deer
sound
spring
still”
DAWN by Marc Martin is a gorgeous picture book that reveals not the tiniest sign of humanity anywhere. Instead, through multiple series of images, each frame accompanied by a single-word caption, the author-illustrator presents nature in all of its early-morning glory, as the sun begins to lighten the horizon.
“fly
fish
flight
follow
jump
catch
dive
swallow”
Among the events taking place, there is a deer drinking at a pond; dandelion fluff being blown away in the wind; a new butterfly leaving its chrysalis; a frog sticking out its tongue, but missing the passing insect; a fish who successfully nails its flying prey; and a spread showing a close-up of a solitary bird calling opposite a pair of trees filled with birds chorusing.
Perhaps, the most playful sequence is a four-frame spread of a ladybug who climbs a blade of grass, takes a drink, and is catapulted into the air as that drop of dew falls down and the blade straightens up:
“climb
quench
drip
drop”
The illustrations really are something else. Marc Martin’s digitally-altered watercolors are really what makes this a must-have that little ones will pore over for extended periods.
The near-wordless tale concludes with the sun escaping the distant hills and lighting the early morning. DAWN is an absolute not-to-miss treat!
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
October 10, 2025
This beautiful picture book opens as dawn breaks over the water, with trees behind and a lone fish jumping. On successive pages, readers see wondrous details of nature, small, large, from below, close up and from a distance. A closeup view of a water strider skimming on the water’s surface and a spider web glimmering in the morning dew. The drama of a deer springing away from the viewer, an owl changing from camouflaged to revealed; the slow trek of a ladybug up a blade of grass or the metamorphosis of a butterfly.
The frames, from many to few on a spread, are accompanied by one word – an action word, or a noun, or an adjective, which feel more like prompts for the reader than a storyline to read. For example, there are three panels on one spread: the first is a narrow panel showing a deer looking directly at the reader, and the word “sound.” The next narrow panel shows the hind legs of the deer as is “spring[s]” away, and the last, larger panel shows the shore where the deer was, with a ripple of water, and the word “still.” The artwork is just gorgeous, executed in watercolor, pencil and digital collage. The book is meditative in its quiet observation of nature, and would be lovely to share one to one or read aloud to kids who like to commune with the outdoors.
The frames, from many to few on a spread, are accompanied by one word – an action word, or a noun, or an adjective, which feel more like prompts for the reader than a storyline to read. For example, there are three panels on one spread: the first is a narrow panel showing a deer looking directly at the reader, and the word “sound.” The next narrow panel shows the hind legs of the deer as is “spring[s]” away, and the last, larger panel shows the shore where the deer was, with a ripple of water, and the word “still.” The artwork is just gorgeous, executed in watercolor, pencil and digital collage. The book is meditative in its quiet observation of nature, and would be lovely to share one to one or read aloud to kids who like to commune with the outdoors.
October 12, 2025
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
With gorgeous illustrations and single words, we see the morning unfolding along a lake. In panels that almost look like photographs, we see a deer as it stands still, runs off, and leaves ripples in the water along a bank, the fuzz being slowly blown off of a dandelion, water dripping off a blade of grass on which a lady bug sits, and a fish stalking and eating a bug. The pace is slow and deliberate; it reads as if someone who is very tired is slowly sipping a cup of coffee on a porch while watching the morning unfold. The pictures all become brighter, and the last two double page spreads show the pinkish yellow "sky" followed by "sun" as the day begins.
The illustrations are all museum quality; I could just see a museum exhibit of them. This could almost be a wordless picture book, but the words chosen all seem very deliberate, and are used in a way that creates a sense of movement.
This is a good counterpart to the hustle and bustle of Silverman and Fournier's Wake Up City and Kiernan Campion's Good Morning, City, and a more impressionistic view of mornings than Ericson and MacKay's Too Early or Pilkey's The Paperboy.
With gorgeous illustrations and single words, we see the morning unfolding along a lake. In panels that almost look like photographs, we see a deer as it stands still, runs off, and leaves ripples in the water along a bank, the fuzz being slowly blown off of a dandelion, water dripping off a blade of grass on which a lady bug sits, and a fish stalking and eating a bug. The pace is slow and deliberate; it reads as if someone who is very tired is slowly sipping a cup of coffee on a porch while watching the morning unfold. The pictures all become brighter, and the last two double page spreads show the pinkish yellow "sky" followed by "sun" as the day begins.
The illustrations are all museum quality; I could just see a museum exhibit of them. This could almost be a wordless picture book, but the words chosen all seem very deliberate, and are used in a way that creates a sense of movement.
This is a good counterpart to the hustle and bustle of Silverman and Fournier's Wake Up City and Kiernan Campion's Good Morning, City, and a more impressionistic view of mornings than Ericson and MacKay's Too Early or Pilkey's The Paperboy.
April 7, 2026
A stunning picture book that perfectly captures dawn breaking - the shifting light and nature slowly awakening. Through varied layouts - full page, double page and panels Martin has shown nature at work - from insects rising, deer awakening, flowers unfurling and blossoms blowing on the breeze.
Minimal text names or describes the event. A ladybird climbing a blade of grass to reach a dewdrop, shown across four panels - climb | quench | drip | drop.
This book is ageless it celebrates nature in its many forms and through soft pastel and slightly hazy images down in pants and pencil. And as the book progresses the light softly changes until the final page - sun - just rising above the hills and glowing in the lake.
CBCA 2026 Picture Book Notable title.
CBCA 2025 Picture Book Shortlist title.
Minimal text names or describes the event. A ladybird climbing a blade of grass to reach a dewdrop, shown across four panels - climb | quench | drip | drop.
This book is ageless it celebrates nature in its many forms and through soft pastel and slightly hazy images down in pants and pencil. And as the book progresses the light softly changes until the final page - sun - just rising above the hills and glowing in the lake.
CBCA 2026 Picture Book Notable title.
CBCA 2025 Picture Book Shortlist title.
December 20, 2025
STUNNING. GORGEOUS. BREATH TAKING. I'd recommend this for an interactive read aloud with young children. There's so much room for savoring - the words and the illustrations - and then just talking, talking, talking.
Seriously, though, this book is a moment of respite for the adults in the world, too. I might put this on my bedside table to read over and over. A beautiful escape AND reminder that this moment in time is just a blink of an eye. Nature, its rhythms, its patterns, has been around for a long time and DAWN, with its magnificence, will arrive again and again despite everything else that is happening in the world.
Seriously, though, this book is a moment of respite for the adults in the world, too. I might put this on my bedside table to read over and over. A beautiful escape AND reminder that this moment in time is just a blink of an eye. Nature, its rhythms, its patterns, has been around for a long time and DAWN, with its magnificence, will arrive again and again despite everything else that is happening in the world.
May 12, 2026
The picture book Dawn illustrates the panoply that goes to make up that thing we call dawn, the start of the day. The watercolour illustrations are grouped in a number of ways maybe focusing on the way light and water interact, on the movements of a fish as it feeds on a fly or the effect on a leaf of a caterpillar eating.
Each illustration has a single word caption which could be a noun, adjective or verb.
Each image conveys so much and provides huge scope for discussion, learning and further discovery.
The illustrations are exquisite, they appear simple but contain a world of detail.
I highly recommend this gorgeous book.
Each illustration has a single word caption which could be a noun, adjective or verb.
Each image conveys so much and provides huge scope for discussion, learning and further discovery.
The illustrations are exquisite, they appear simple but contain a world of detail.
I highly recommend this gorgeous book.
November 8, 2025
Lush illustrations offer a close-up view of early morning movement and life around a lake. The images are delectable and realistic with a hint of misty and dreamy. Perusing the largely wordless pages (one descriptive word per image: "fly," "fish," "flight," "follow") is an almost meditative experience, slowing the world down to these immersive moments.
Quibble:
Most vignettes felt satisfyingly complete in their snapshot of a moment, but the ladybug series kind of leaves the reader hanging! (Although: maybe seeing her on the copyright page rounds out her story.)
Quibble:
Most vignettes felt satisfyingly complete in their snapshot of a moment, but the ladybug series kind of leaves the reader hanging! (Although: maybe seeing her on the copyright page rounds out her story.)
November 8, 2025
An exploration of the natural world in the very early morning. I was simply mesmerized by these gorgeous illustrations! Marc Martin has made me want to go to a park and just observe. I often notice the larger creatures, like deer, but never have even considered the tiny animals that climb blades of grass, that flutter in the early morning dew for drinks, and then disappear so quickly. Wow. Just wow!
I hope I have students who fish for they would be most likely to have watched the sun rise over a lake. This quiet and beautiful book is a wonder!
I hope I have students who fish for they would be most likely to have watched the sun rise over a lake. This quiet and beautiful book is a wonder!
August 17, 2025
Luminous paintings accompany single words, all perfectly paired and coming together into one beautiful whole. Each individual painting or short sequence feels like the distillation of a haiku's seasonal word, such is the attention and honor paid to these many moments at the start of a new day. Don't rush through the text--this is a book to be read slowly, one word per breath, with nowhere else to be.
March 3, 2026
A beautiful large-format picture book in which the illustrations take front-of-stage. Single words accompany most illustrations of aspects of daybreak in an English countryside. The words not only describe the illustration, but have relationships to each other sharing the double-page spread; rhyming or opposites or a sequence. Children will not only be encouraged to love nature, but also language and art.
March 29, 2026
This is a beautifully illustrated book that captures the peacefulness of the day beginning. The story follows the world awaking, from a quiet early morning to the busy afternoon of people and animals. The text is simple but poetic, but the illustrations are intricate and colorful, full of live, inviting readers to look at the small details in their daily surroundings. This book is calming, inspirational, and perfect for young readers!
July 11, 2026
4.5 without the words, and I want a copy for my coffee table! Without the words, this is a very relaxing book for an adult with excellent artwork (though I thought the dawn and sunset pictures were my least favorite ironically). For those who weren’t sure w child would stay engaged, it’s very much a read-aloud book (with OR without words) to guide a child through the experience, then let them savor it alone when they’re older.
August 16, 2025
3 stars (I liked it)
Really pretty pictures and very limited text. I like how the book inspires the reader to look deeply at nature and to notice things you maybe haven't noticed before. I also liked how there were some unexpected moments in the book. I'm not sure how engaged this book will keep young readers though.
Really pretty pictures and very limited text. I like how the book inspires the reader to look deeply at nature and to notice things you maybe haven't noticed before. I also liked how there were some unexpected moments in the book. I'm not sure how engaged this book will keep young readers though.
October 11, 2025
Watercolor illustrations bring the morning to life in close up, frame-by-frame brilliance. Very few words round out this near-perfect picture book. You'll want to leave your screen behind and go out into nature after reading this one, trust me.
Themes: nature, animals, wildlife
Ages: preK-all ages
Pub year: 2025
Themes: nature, animals, wildlife
Ages: preK-all ages
Pub year: 2025
April 30, 2026
I especially like the cute baby deer. It’s also cool that I found the deer hidden in the tree trunks.
It’s too bad that the ladybug missed the water.
The hummingbird is really cute.
I wish the frog caught the fly.
I’m not sure if the marching ants are carrying a pencil or a stick.
The yellow-rumped warbler is cute too.
It’s too bad that the ladybug missed the water.
The hummingbird is really cute.
I wish the frog caught the fly.
I’m not sure if the marching ants are carrying a pencil or a stick.
The yellow-rumped warbler is cute too.
July 9, 2026
Exquisite! Beautiful illustrations in soft tones combined with single words makes this book a true exploration of the magic of nature at dawn. While this book does not have a storyline it is a gorgeous book to share with a child to foster curiosity and appreciation of the natural world around us. I would also highly recommend this book for art lovers, adult and children alike.
July 9, 2026
Such a beautiful book! The simple structure--one word per illustration--drew me in deeply to the moments shown in each picture. Each illustration is evocative of a moment in nature. It made me remember specific moments and experiences when I saw, smelled, heard, lived moments of my own. I'm so glad I read it.
July 11, 2026
Gorgeously illustrated, with very spare words (which is not so great for a 3 year old asking a lot of "what are they doing" questions every 2 seconds, but it then becomes an exercise in stillness as you watch the sun rise over the pages).
It occurs to me the opening track to the 2005 Pride and Prejudice soundtrack also titled "Dawn" would be a great accompaniment to this.
It occurs to me the opening track to the 2005 Pride and Prejudice soundtrack also titled "Dawn" would be a great accompaniment to this.
September 9, 2025
Gorgeous watercolour illustrations perfectly capturing the quiet beauty of dawn. This book will, the next time you’re out in nature. encourage you to pause and notice its beauty during the quiet moments between first light and sunrise.
September 21, 2025
Stunningly beautiful book about how a day starts. Explores nature as a slow unfolding of brilliant small episodes. Like a slow nature walk, forest bathing, or nature contemplation, this book gives to kids the joy of a shared and joyous experience. Don't miss it.
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October 9, 2025The artwork in this book is gorgeous! It is so soft and comforting. The text is sparse, naming a thing or action. I can imagine this book being shared one one-on-one when a mellow, calm vibe is wanted.
December 27, 2025
Very pretty and meditative. I was a little confused as we had it under non-fiction at our library (and our book provider also has it listed as NF) but it really doesn't have any facts or back matter. Curious to know if it is the publisher or just Ingram trying to market it as NF.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews