Book List

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn is written and illustrated by Kenard Pak. The reader follows a little girl’s journey through her neighborhood, the nearby woodlands and wetlands, a town square, and farmlands. Each richly colored page incorporates elements of the natural world—foxes, blue jays, butterflies, and beaver. The illustrations are beautiful and beg to be examined closely.

The Busy Little Squirrel, by Nancy Tafuri is favorite. As squirrel prepares for winter, he is too busy to “nibble a pumpkin” with the mice and too busy to “rest on a branch” with the cardinals. It’s a fun book to read aloud because of the repetitive phrase, “He was so busy.” The children love to say that part as I read the book to the class. The art is bold and colorful. Each pages contains detailed images of wildlife. On some pages the squirrel is in the foreground, in others he is far away, and in another the reader only sees the squirrel’s tail. The variety of perspectives illustrates that the squirrel covers a lot of ground and is, in fact, very active. The book ends with a sweet surprise.

Baby Bear Counts One, by Ashley Wolff is an informative journey through the autumn season. Baby Bear asks his mother all kinds of questions. “Mama, who woke me up?” “Who is munching in there, Mama?” Mama patiently answers his questions. His questions are all connected to the natural world and the autumn season. Wolff creates the dramatic images in the book with watercolor tinted linocuts. The lines are strong and the colors saturated. Each page contains little discoveries that are fun to share— grasshoppers, spiders, mice, and more. Happy hunting.

Green is a wonderful book that plays with the shades of green. Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s artwork is textural and rich. She adds playful cutouts to each page that carry the reader through the book.

While prepping for the Moon Unit, I found the wonderful book, City Moon. It is written by Rachael Cole and illustrated by Blanca Gomez. The first time I read the book, it brought me back to that magical night with William and the moon. The book follows a mother and her son through the city as they search for the moon. “After dinner, after tooth-brushing, we put on pajamas, then coats and shoes. We take keys, and bang the big front door behind us. It’s evening. It’s night. We are going on a walk to look for the moon.” The art in City Moon has an architectural quality with rich, saturated colors. On each page, Gomez treats us to a view of city life, both inside the buildings and on the streets. Through Cole’s story, we travel the city with Mama and her little boy. Every word takes us further along on the search for the moon. Enjoy! And then, make your own search for the moon.

In Possum and  the Peeper, possum is roused from his long winter sleep by a loud and constant noise. “Peep! Peep! Peep!” He decides to leave his cozy winter nest and find the source of the inconsiderate racket. As he searches she is joined by a pair of catbirds, a bear, a muskrat, and a turtle, who all agree that the noise needs to stop. The animals’ search takes them through the woods, by the “trout lilies blooming along the path,” and then down to the marsh. Among the reeds of the marsh they find “a speck of a thing” that is the source of the “peeping.” In his loud voice, the unapologetic little frog delivers a spring message, “Rise and shine!” Read the book to hear the frog’s other spring messages.

And then it’s spring, is that wonderful combination of beautiful artwork and wonderful words. This team created a lovely book.

Think spring. What color comes to mind? Green, right? Spring is the arrival of green… or, if you flip it, it is the disappearance of brown. And then it’s spring, starts with brown: “First you have brown, all around you have brown.” The author then adds seeds and anticipation, and takes us into spring. The simple, measured text articulates the hopeful, watchful anticipation of spring.

The illustrated characters—a boy, a dog, a turtle, and a rabbit—stand in a brown field, plant seeds in a garden, hope for rain, march in mud, and wait. While the characters wait, the reader waits. The images

of the little boy and his friends are sweet, playful, and timeless. Erin E. Stead uses woodblock printing techniques and pencil sketching to bring this story to life. The stage is set with a big tree in a fenced field, a small red farmhouse set on a distant hill, and sky—big, cloud-filled sky. The characters of the story move within this stage to play out the celebration of spring.

Mousekin’s Golden House, written and illustrated by Edna Miller, is a great post-Halloween read. One moonlit night, Mousekin, a little mouse, travels down a path and walks right into a jack-o-lantern. He finds the big-faced pumpkin interesting—so interesting that he forgets to watch for danger and he’s almost snatched by an owl. Luckily, the jack-o-lantern provides him with shelter. Mousekin finds many benefits to living in a jack-o-lantern. 

Miller does a wonderful job giving voice and personality to this little mouse while staying true to the facts of nature. Playful illustrations nestled on the pages add visuals to this sweet story. A wonderful read with a very cozy ending.

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