Review by New York Times Review
Plourde and Gal capture the vitality of fall right along with the season's more melancholy realities. Bella has outgrown her favorite coat. Her Grams wants to sew her a new one, but Bella's too busy playing in piles of leaves and picking apples. Not until the first snow appears, and with it a snow woman who can wear the old coat, will Bella let go. The pages fly by like autumn leaves in the wind: Bella is a whirl of messy, lovely girl-energy, while Grams is a warm, whiz-bang wonder of a grandmother. WONDERFALL Written and illustrated by Michael Hall. 40 pp. Greenwil low/ HarperCollins. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) In spare poems whose titles substitute "fall" for the endings of autumn-appropriate words like "beautiful," "resourceful" and "thankful," Hall ("Frankencrayon") pays punning homage to the season. ("Goodbye, geese," "Wistfall" begins.) His collages, which layer cutouts in bright colors mostly against white backgrounds in a style reminiscent of Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert, are reminders of the shapes within shapes that make up all we see. GOODBYE SUMMER, HELLO AUTUMN Written and illustrated by Kenard Pak. 32 pp. Holt. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) A jaunty girl in a red scarf hikes across the pages of this cheerful chronicle of the passage from summer to fall. As she greets flora and fauna, each explain themselves. "We are leaning into the sun, enjoying the last summer rays," the flowers say. "I am setting earlier and earlier now," the sun confides. But it's Pak's ("Flowers Are Calling") resplendent digital art that makes you linger. Each spread is a masterly landscape composition, both impressionistic and crisp, with colors that quietly dazzle. YELLOW TIME Written and illustrated by Lauren Stringer. 32 pp. Beach Lane. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) As colors go, yellow rarely gets to be the star of the show. Stringer ("Winter Is the Warmest Season") is out to change that in this vibrant celebration of the central role it plays in the autumn palette. A radiant cast of children climb, skip, jump and dance through scenes of yellow-colored fall pleasures. "It only comes once a year," these kids know, and they look as if they're having a blast while it's here. The pages are heavy on the yellow, of course, but pops of bright blue, red and purple add balance. APPLESAUCE WEATHER By Helen Frost. Illustrated by Amy June Bates. 103 pp. Candlewick, $14.99. (Middle grade; ages 8 to 12) Its fall setting makes a throwback tale like this one even more resonant. Frost expertly walks the line between sweet and bittersweet in short poems about the siblings Faith and Peter, who await a visit from Uncle Arthur. He always comes to make applesauce, but this year Aunt Lucy died; maybe he won't. Frost pays tribute to older family members, the lives they lived and the stories they tell, which can still enthrall the youngest generation. Bates's dignified pencil drawings enchant as well.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 8, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
Poetry, wordplay, and two scurrying gray squirrels present a delightful romp through the autumn season. Using fall (instead of -ful) allows poet Hall to create themes for subjects: Peacefall, Plentifall, Helpfall, and so on. Utilizing a palette of rust, orange, brown, and shades of green, the acrylic paint and soft pastel illustrations use blocky geometrics that pop against the white background. Apples and fall vegetables are harvested for market as the leaves change colors, and a bright Frightfall showcases bats, little monsters, and ghosts. Later, Thankfall shows geese and birds enjoying a yummy feast in November. While children and parents rake leaves, raccoons, foxes, and deer forage with the approach of cold weather, anticipating the final surprise of Snowfall! Children will delight in following the two squirrels, who appear on every double-page spread, as they scamper and play in the trees, sequestering acorns. Two ending pages give factual material about nine of the animals shown, while the following two pages are devoted to squirrel behavior and their predilection for acorns.--Gepson, Lolly Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
An oak tree, with cutout leaves and a pair of squirrels cavorting through its branches, narrates Hall's (Frankencrayon) pensive story, watching as autumn arrives. In a bit of seasonal punning, the title of each free-verse poem substitutes the word fall for the suffix -ful. In "Peacefall," the oak's acorns drop, "plink, plunk, plop." In "Dutifall," the tree notices schoolchildren carrying knapsacks waiting beneath it: "The busy/ yellow/ bus is/ back." Slowly the tree's leaves change color and drop (the poems' verticality echoes this action), and after the last leaves have fallen and geese fly south, three spreads herald another seasonal change: "Will/ this night... bring/ the/ first... snowfall!" Hall's crisp, graphic digital collages provide plenty to talk about, and the puns add another layer of interest. Ages 4-8. Agent: Anna Olswanger, Olswanger Literary. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Hall explores the joys of autumn on a farm from the perspective of an oak tree. Each page features a spread with the aforementioned tree on the right, plus a few ubiquitous squirrels, as the season changes. Each spread includes a short poem on the left page with a title that contains the word fall. The wordplay is clever, and older kids will feel bright when they get it. The youngest might not get the joke, but it isn't necessary to enjoy the book. The tree and squirrels witness many things: apple harvest ("Plentifall"), fall colors of the farmer's market ("Beautifall"), a parade ("Eventfall"), and Halloween ("Frightfall"). Children play in the falling leaves, a wicked wind blows, the family cleans up, geese migrate, and, finally, "Snowfall." Hall's bold digital illustrations have the look and feel of pictures made from construction paper shapes. He uses basic shapes and designs combined with plenty of white space and autumn colors to perfectly encapsulate the theme of the work. VERDICT An excellent seasonal addition, great for storytime and as a catalyst for poetry writing or artwork.-Catherine Callegari, Formerly at Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH © Copyright 2016. 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
After his earlier inventive picture books introducing shapes (Perfect Square, rev. 3/11) and colors (Red: A Crayons Story, rev. 1/15), Hall turns now to a season: autumn. Replacing the suffix -ful with his own created suffix -fall, he invents new adjectives such as beautifall, plentifall, and wistfall. These words form the titles of a series of short verses that take readers through the season. Each double-page spread is anchored by a large, acorn-bearing oak tree, which narrates the book in very brief poems: A gentle / breeze is / jiggling / me. / I hear / my / acorns / drop. / Plink, / plunk, / plop. As the season progresses, the tree comments on events such as children boarding a school bus on the first day of school, kids trick-or-treating, and Canada geese flying south for the winter. Each page-turn finds the tree also marking the passage of time: its leaves change color and begin to fall. Two gray squirrels can be spotted on almost every spread, along with many other animals, from monarch butterflies to great horned owls; all of these are described further in the back matter (which also provides information about squirrels role in propagating oak trees). Although the wordplay here may be over the heads of the youngsters at whom it is aimed, Halls exuberant style, with bright colors and crisp, digitally rendered shapes, is engaging, and the closing sequence leading up to the snowfall is one that all children will understand and enjoy. susan dove lempke (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.
