Review by Booklist Review
This fall-themed picture book completes Yee's satisfying quartet of quiet seasonal stories, which includes Tracks in the Snow (2003), Who Likes Rain? (2007), and Summer Days and Nights (2012). Here the same young girl searches her yard for signs that autumn is coming. She feels a chilly wind, hears geese honk as they fly south, and watches a squirrel bury acorns. Taking photos and collecting leaves and acorns, she makes them into her own book to help her remember the season, until September rolls around again. The gentle, rhyming text provides a suggestion of story, but the real draw here is the portrayal of the season, through lines such as, Ash cloaked in yellow. / Maple wears red. / Aspen, a crown of gold on its head. The nicely textured, richly colored watercolor scenes sometimes fill a whole page but more typically appear as smaller, more intimate pictures. A fine read-aloud choice for the season.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Yee's fourth seasonal tale (following Tracks in the Snow, Who Likes Rain?, and Summer Days and Nights), the inquisitive girl from his previous books discovers clues that autumn is on its way. Sweatshirt-clad, she ventures outside to observe nature's changes: "Dogwood shows off/ A new crimson gown./ Oak changes into/ A suit of rust brown.." An array of animals, from cicadas to geese "fly[ing] south in formation," also sound reminders that summer is ending. Back in her bedroom, the girl fills a jar with acorns she has collected and creates an autumn scrapbook filled with leaves, drawings, and photographs, so that she can remember autumn "When crickets no longer sing late at night/ And the world outside/ Has turned cold, black and white." Yee's soft, grainy pencil drawings and contemplative rhymes celebrate quiet moments of exploration and discovery. Ages 2-6. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A little girl senses the coming of autumn from changes in the air and sky, and proceeds to investigate, collect, and record details about the new season. She uses a camera and notebook to capture an array of natural images, including a spider spinning a web, a caterpillar in a cocoon, and geese flying south. She also celebrates many different trees that are transforming, identifying a dogwood, oak, ash, maple, and aspen as they "whisper and sway in the breeze/shaking loose acorns and batches of leaves." The girl ultimately creates an Autumn Book, with photographs and decorated pages, so she can remember these details when winter comes. The gentle, rhyming text is paired with soft yet rich, textured illustrations in this final installment of Yee's seasonal series. The abundance of white space helps the brown, yellow, and red hues of the season stand out, and evocative figurative language is used effectively throughout. Especially beautiful are the descriptions of the trees, said to be wearing various garments of unique color, leaves "swirling and twirling" and "spinning round." VERDICT Recommended for elementary collections as a solid addition to the seasonal offerings or a helpful tool in exploring figurative language.-Whitney LeBlanc, Staten Island Academy, NY © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A girl celebrates autumn in Yees fourth in a quartet of books about the seasons (Tracks in the Snow, rev. 11/03; Who Likes Rain?, rev. 3/07; Summer Days and Nights, rev. 7/12). The young narrator continues her fascination with animals, insects, and, here, trees. Roaming her yard with backpack and camera in hand, she identifies several types of specimens (cicada, woodpecker, chipmunk, dogwood, and more), takes pictures, collects acorns and leaves, then gathers everything into a scrapbook to look at when autumn is over and winter has come. As in the previous books, the Prismacolor pencil art rather than the rhyming text is the main attraction. Yees shading and color blending are meticulously done, and the illustrations vary among full-page, spot art, and everything in between, giving viewers lots to look at. Whether talking to a spider, photographing a chipmunk, or dancing among falling leaves, our little naturalist-in-training makes autumn (or whatever season shes enjoying) seem like the very best time of year. jennifer m. brabander(c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In the fourth installment of Yee's seasonal picture-book quartet (Who Likes Rain?, 2007, etc.), a girl celebrates the coming of autumn and finds a special way to remember it when it's over. Yee's rhyming text conveys the first-person narrator's excitement as summer turns to fall. She delights in exploring the natural world and uses a camera, pencil, and sketchbook to record observations. A trusty backpack carries these supplies and holds colorful, fallen leaves and acorns, too. The story ultimately suggests that the most precious things she collects are memories of time spent in autumnal beauty, and she uses scissors, glue, crayons, and the photos and items she's gathered to create the eponymous "autumn book." Closing spreads show her cozied up inside her house and looking at her scrapbook on wintry days. Throughout, Yee's Prismacolor illustrations consistently reflect the girl's experiences while also employing design choices to bring readers close to her activitiessome pictures are made to look like photos the girl took with her camera, for example. On the other hand, while readers might believe the girl took the depicted photos, the rhyming style of the text (while consistent with the other books in the series) can make the narration feel a bit forced alongside the more successful artistic rendering of the child's point of view. Quibble aside, a sound conclusion to the series. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
