Fall Leaves by Loretta Holland is fiction book that not only talks about different seasons, but puts a clever wordplay with homonyms. It starts by saying that when summer leaves, fall arrives. It talks about what happens to the birds, flowers and leaves during the fall season and the importance of rain. The book also talks about what happens to leaves when the temperature drops and snow begins to fall. This book is very detailed and developmentally appropriate. I would love to use it in all elementary grade levels because the information is simple, yet informative. Although it is fiction, it provides factual information on what happens in our environment as the seasons change. The book has appropriate headings that describe what the page is about and great pictures that support the text. I would love to read this book in October and have kids recognize that the weather is changing. I would love to use this book in science and have students make observations of a tree and record the color changes that they see throughout a couple of weeks. I would also like kids to use this book in writing and write about a favorite fall memory that they have. This book can also be used in early elementary math by having kids count the various objects on a certain page. This book also has incredible illustrations and can used when incorporating arts in the lesson because kids can make drawings of trees and hang them around the room. I really enjoyed this book and believe that it can be really valuable in a classroom library. It is developmentally appropriate and contains beautiful pictures that engage students in the text. The book does however in my opinion contain 2 biases. Some students may be from places that do not have leaves that change, so this book may be something completely new for them. Also, kids from Florida probably have never seen snow before either. I also did not like that the book uses the same white boy and girl on every page. To make it more appealing to more students, it could have contained illustrations that pertain to more ethnic groups. But, overall, it was a great book. Fall Leaves is a beautifully illustrated book for ages 4 to 8 about the coming and goings of the fall season. The artwork throughout is absolutely wonderful with light box illustrations that really pop out and look very real. The colors throughout are bright and vibrant and I think young readers looking on will love these images. As for the tale/poem told, I think that there are two ways to read this book: There is large text on each page that can be read as if a poem and then smaller text that seems as if designed for a parent to read to children.Reading this book to myself, I very much enjoyed it, I think the text will have children asking many questions – about words, happenings, and meanings, which as a parent you could view as wonderful or frustrating depending on the day. This was a very cute read and the ARC copy I received included an activity at the end about how to make Leaf Prints. I hope that it stays with the officially released book as it is a fun and easy fall activity to do with kids.
What do You think about Fall Leaves (2014)?
Amazing illustrations. My vote for this year's Caldecott!
—carolnonono
