Fall Book Basket

The fall books are back on the shelf today.  I pulled them from here and there around the house in September and put them all together in a new basket just for seasonal books.  I'm not sure if we read them a lot more than we would have anyway, but at least they were easier to find when we did want to read books about back-to-school, Halloween, autumn leaves, and Thanksgiving.  Some new books found their way into our fall book basket this year, too:

We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season by Wendy Pfeffer; illustrated by Linda Bleck (Dutton Children's Books, 2006).  Non-fiction picture book about harvest celebrations from the past that are still carried on all over the world today.  We also added two of Bleck's retro-inspired Pepper the Dog books ("Pepper plays, pulls, and pops!") to our collection (Milly insisted).

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara; illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2007).  This one inspired an afternoon of seed counting (by twos, fives, and tens) at our house.  I really like Karas's illustrations, from the autumnal palette to the many multicultural faces of the children in Mr. Tiffin's class.  Perfect all season.

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Boo and Baa Have Company by Lena and Olof Landstrom (R&S Books, 2006).  I like Swedish children's books in general, but we all adore Boo and Baa.  The droll, deadpan text and the remarkably expressive illustrations of these two googly-eyed and clueless sheep work together perfectly: the result is hilarious.  Apparently there is a whole series of Boo and Baa board books which are not readily available in the States (believe me, I've looked).  Good thing I can read this one over and over again and still think it's great.

Most of our seasonal books come from the library:  we go at least once at week, and we have lots of books out at a time.  These we get to live with all year round, even when it's not their turn in the seasonal book basket.

[Thank you for your patience with the last of this year's fall books.  Now it's time for winter...and Christmas!]