Review by Booklist Review
Starring a girl, her dog, and an impressive variety of leaves, Wellington's latest book makes autumnal colors ever so cheery. The picture book follows the young narrator as she gathers leaves, identifies the trees they are from, and collects the leaves in a book. Alternating between the fanciful and the factual, Wellington's book shows detailed renderings of leaves in leaf rubbings, prints, and photocopies on one page, followed by double-page spreads filled with trees that look like giant multicolored lollipops, composed of stylized cut-paper collage. Though the abstract trees are far from realistic, the range of leaf shapes, from the star-shaped leaves of the sweet gum tree to the millions of little oval leaves on the honey locust tree, are still recognizable. Along with dispensing plenty of informational tidbits (the ginkgo is the oldest tree on Earth, for instance), the book celebrates the gorgeous colors and the great variety of trees around us. Instructions for making a leaf book, including directions for making both leaf rubbings and leaf prints, close out the sunny volume.--Nolan, Abby Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Equipped with a guide to trees, a girl with a crown of ginger hair walks through an arboretum, identifying and collecting a variety of leaves, including honey locust, sweet gum, linden, and maple. Wellington (Colors for Zena) alternates between scenes of the girl on her walk and those of her at home, where she makes crayon rubbings of the leaves in her Leaf Book. Rubbings and photocopies of leaves appear throughout Wellington's mixed-media images, while tiny sidebars offer details about the trees and leaves presented. The girl's clipped narration ("Oak leaves are strong. They are good for my art projects. I make leaf prints in many colors") is perhaps better suited to children learning to read on their own than to story-time sessions. Regardless, many readers are likely to be inspired to turn their own autumnal observations into creative projects. Ages 3-5. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-One of the most visible indicators of autumn are falling leaves. The narrator decides to take those leaves and create her very own leaf book to commemorate the season. Once she gathers them, she uses a tree guide to identify the tree and record the name. As each leaf is examined, Wellington provides additional facts about trees and leaves (including vocabulary such as lobes and compound leaves), which will help readers create their own leaf books. The author does a terrific job combining subjects here-story is interwoven with fact, and science is interwoven with art. As the leaf-gathering continues, the girl uses leaves to create prints and rubbings as well as adding them to her book. The illustrations are created in bright autumnal colors. Each type of leaf is depicted in color photocopies as well as other artistic methods. The trees scattered throughout have simplified leaf shapes, but the leaves themselves are re-created in detail. VERDICT There can never be enough seasonally appropriate books for classrooms and libraries, particularly when they offer information readers can use.-Susan E. Murray, formerly at Glendale Public Library, AZ © 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
Accompanied by her dog, a girl walks through a park collecting leaves for a book. Stylized trees in bright autumn colors are followed by identification of each leaf and realistically rendered leaf images in a collage of rubbings, prints, and photocopies of actual leaves. Although the text is stiff, young naturalists will be drawn to this engaging treatment. Rubbing and print-making instructions included. (c) Copyright 2016. 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
Wellington turns a leaf-identification book into a visual display of fall color and shape. Readers learn along with a young redheaded girl as she visits an arboretum to collect leaves for her own leaf book. Alternating double-page spreads show each tree in the arboretum and the girl cataloging the leaves and sometimes doing something with themleaf rubbings, drawing pictures, adding the leaves to her book. Readers are treated to a look at what she's written in her book, and small fact boxes give further information about the leaf, its tree, and how to identify it, including some vocabulary"simple," "compound," "leaflet." The pictures are the real draw, however. Done with gouache, watercolor, and collages of rubbings, prints, and photocopies, they are a mix of realistic and whimsical. The illustrations of the full trees break down both the tree and its leaves into basic geometric shapes. Trees are represented as rounded, often circular or oval masses of leaves on skinny, rectangular trunks. Gingko leaves are triangles, sweet gum leaves are stars, and there are other familiar shapes as well; these patterns are writ small in the leaves and large in shapes that take up most of the trees' canopies. While its true usefulness as an identification guide may be questionable, there's no doubt it will capture children's attention and hopefully have them searching for their own specimens and creating leaf books of their own. (Informational picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
