Hi everyone!
A quick poll for you.
I wonder if you can tell where I would land. Or…where I’d fall.
This is my favorite season by far, with all the bundling up and gathering in. The winter blankets have been placed on the couch; the tea is restocked; the hoodies are in full rotation. In North Carolina, this season means we can take a deep breath again.
The following list is a little longer than usual, but I couldn’t narrow it down. The darkness is getting longer, so we may as well settle in with a good book or two. Teaching little ones to enjoy the pleasures of reading is among the best things we can do for them.
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the Earth seeking the successive autumns - George Eliot1
Windows, Julia Denos. That wonderful time of day known by some as the “gloaming,” dusk, helps us see the warmth of the great indoors. This book’s main character walks his dog as night begins to settle in, and he observes the windows in his neighborhood. As the book progresses, the houses become silhouettes against the sky, and the windows stand out more and more, ending with his own familiar windows of home.
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, Julia Rawlinson. This was a new one to me, and I immediately fell in love with it. Fletcher is a little fox who loves a tree. He is bothered by the changes he sees in the tree as autumn approaches, so he tries to help the tree by adopting one little leaf. Eventually, with time, he makes peace with the changing seasons.
Fall Ball, Peter McCarty. If you have someone in your house who loves football (the American kind), they might like this one. I picked it up mostly because of the illustrations. Look at these characters:
Aren’t they funny?! This is a little celebration of fall and football.
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf and Leaf Man, both by Lois Ehlert. If you don’t know Ehlert, you should. Her books are always uniquely illustrated. They contain a combination of collage and photography. In Leaf Man, the pages are even cut differently as the book goes along. These are both bright and beautiful celebrations of fall foliage.
Ox-Cart Man, Donald Hall. I saved the best for last. This is a longtime favorite of mine, one I read to my classes as a teacher and to my own children. It’s remarkably simple, showing a family’s labors through the year as they work on their land in New England. Eventually, the father travels to Portsmouth market, where nothing is wasted, and he prepares for the winter ahead. Illustrated by Barbara Cooney, this is a Caldecott Medal winner.
A note on purchase links: I’m a happy supporter of independent bookshops, so the links I provide will almost always go my affiliate link at bookshop.org. For my local readers, I heartily recommend you buy them through our favorite, Goldberry Books, but you might have a shop closer to you. Of course, you can always find these selections on That Big Website That Ships Quickly, But Not As Quickly as It Used To, and Remember How They Sucked Us All In By Being a Bookstore to Begin With? I’m also a big fan of saving money and patronizing your local library. Happy reading!
Quick reminder that George Eliot was A LADY, Mary Ann Evans.
We LOVE Leafman! I’ll have to check out the others here.
Thanks for the tip on Fall Ball. I'm a sucker for super unique illustrations.
I have yet to visit Goldberry Books, much to my shame.