Fall Leaves Fall!

When fall comes, two brothers enjoy catching the falling leaves, stomping on them, kicking them, jumping in piles of them, and using them to make pictures, in a story which includes a description of how leaves change through the year.

PreSchool-Grade 1-Brightly illustrated and infectiously cheery, this overview of two siblings' favorite time of year gets it just right. The focus is on autumn leaves and all the things these imaginative children do with them. Leaves are for watching, catching, stomping, kicking, and collecting, and big piles of freshly raked leaves are perfect for jumping into. After collecting leaves from their favorite trees, the children label some and make silly pictures with others, two very good ideas for classrooms or home. Maple, ginkgo, sassafras, beech, and two types of oak are represented. The last page shows the sequence of the growth of leaves from spring to winter in very simple terms and mentions that some leaves do not change color or fall off in the fall. Exceptionally well-crafted paper-collage illustrations capture the children's easy exuberance while the simply written text is nicely paced for reading aloud. By the same team responsible for It's Pumpkin Time (Scholastic, 1994), this is a seasonal title you won't want to miss.
Alicia Eames, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 2-4. Plenty of picture books are set in the autumn, but few capture a young child's experience of the season as succinctly as this one. Watching the leaves fall to the ground, two children try to catch them, then stomp on them, kick them, collect them, compare their shapes, rake them into a pile, and jump into it. The colorful collage illustrations, made of a variety of papers cut into simple forms, are well composed. Their large scale makes the book a natural for sharing with groups of children. With its simple text and appealing illustrations, this picture book seems tailor-made for preschool classes in the fall. Carolyn Phelan
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