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
A girl takes a walk on a late summer morning and says hello to animals and other natural elements, starting with blue jays, foxes, and butterflies and ending later that day with a chill in the air, a puddle, autumn leaves, and the setting sun. They return her greetings with comments of their own. Finally, over the last three double-page spreads, which illustrate evening, night, and morning, she says the phrases that becomes the book's title. While Pak has contributed the art for other picture books, including Rita Gray's Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? (2014), this is his first as writer-illustrator. His text creates a light narrative framework while pointing out a series of seasonal changes. Using color and composition very effectively, the stylized artwork includes details that kids will enjoy discovering on their own. The wordless night scene beautifully lays out a bird's-eye view of the landscape and town that the girl walked through earlier in the day, giving children a chance to retrace her steps and recall elements of her early autumn ramble.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A girl with brown skin, rosy cheeks, and a red scarf that billows out behind her walks through the landscapes of illustrator Pak's story, his debut as author, watching summer turn into autumn. She travels through a forest and along a stream, then spends time in town before heading home. Throughout, she addresses the natural objects she sees, and they reply, telling her what they do as the season changes. "Hello, playful foxes and singing blue jays," she says. "Hello!" they answer. "We are busy looking for food. Some of us are heading south to our winter homes." Delicate hints of texture and shifting planes of quiet greens and browns transform slowly into a fall palette. By the time the girl returns home, the sun is going down, and the day closes with the first red leaf. The focus is on the natural world, but Pak (Flowers Are Calling) celebrates city life, too, with drawings of diverse townspeople-a mechanic, a man moving boxes-that show a rainbow of a community. It's a thoughtful look at the kind of change that unfolds almost imperceptibly. Ages 4-7. Agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A girl wearing a red scarf greets a nippy late summer morning. The child wanders through woods, by a creek, and across farmland and finally arrives in town, encountering all sorts of flora and fauna along the way. She greets everyone in a friendly tone, saying hello to trees, blue jays, foxes, distant thunder, breezy wind, and the approaching chill in the air. In the end, returning home, it's "Goodbye, summer...Hello autumn!" Short sentences are positioned over the pictures. The spare text and muted watercolor illustrations blend perfectly to create a feeling of wonder at the change of seasons. This is an upbeat look at the promise of fall's glories. VERDICT A gentle, gorgeous welcome to summer's end and fall's beginning, perfect for storytime or one-on-one reading.-Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI © 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
"Hello, late summer morning," says a young girl in a red scarf as she leaves her house on a double-page spread suffused in soft greens. She greets the trees, a variety of animals, flowers, thunder, and leaves and each answers her ("Hello! Now that the cool winds have come, we love how our branches sway in the sun"). The friendly conversation is illustrated with digitally enhanced watercolor and pencil art that captures the changing season as the girl walks through woods and into town. Foxes, chipmunks, and other creatures prepare for the coming chill; townsfolk don sweaters. Pak's angular people and objects are especially striking against the round shapes and soft, translucent colors of his background hills and trees. The pictures reveal inviting details not mentioned in the text: our young protagonist has brown skin and dark hair, while the townspeople themselves are a nicely diverse group; three creatures -- a large spotted dog, a blue jay, and a butterfly -- jauntily accompany the girl on her journey, adding a little folkloric flair; and the colorful bouquet of late-blooming asters and phlox the girl acquires in the woods dwindles as she walks through town, while, in her wake, people look pleasantly surprised to find flowers in their hands (or, at the caf, in their coffee cups). The story comes full-circle in a final spread of the girl outside her house, now surrounded by trees in reds and oranges, once again greeting the day: "Hello, autumn!" Pak's well-executed first appearance as both author and illustrator offers a warm welcome to fall. jennifer m. brabander (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.
