Leaves

An Ezra Jack Keats Book Award winner, Leaves, is a sweet story about a little bear experiences the four seasons during his first year. I enjoyed the part where little bear tries to reattach the fallen leaves to the tree. ( )

A bear experiences his first autumn and winter in this lovely picture-book examination of the changing of the seasons from author/illustrator David Ezra Stein. Concerned when the leaves begin to fall, our ursine hero at first attempts to replace them on the trees, but when he eventually gets sleepy he uses them to line a cave in which to hibernate. When he awakens again in the spring, he discovers new leaves budding, and joyfully welcomes them to the world...

Pairing a simple text of no more than a few words per page with bright, autumnal illustrations, Leaves offers a sometimes humorous, sometimes sweet look at a young bear's first experience with the changing seasons. Young children will no doubt be able to identify with the bear's confusion and concern, when faced with this change, and will find his joyful realization that the leaves will grow again in spring quite reassuring. As an autumn lover I preferred the scenes set in that season, from a visual perspective, although the artwork was appealing throughout. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for seasonal titles for younger children, perhaps ages two through five? ( )

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I absolutely loved reading this book. I am giving it a 5 out of 5 stars because it describes a good setting, problem solving, and new topics for students to analyze – the book talks about the change in seasons and how it affects the bear in the story. The book itself is very easy to read, especially for students in the younger grades. The pictures that go along with the text are very useful because they describe what is happening in the pictures. I think books like “Leaves” are very engaging not only for younger students, but also for any ages. In addition to the book’s engagement with students, it introduces a new vocabulary word, which can be used as an introduction to a topic about “hibernation” or a unit about seasons. Books like this help as a tool to introducing a new topic in class; the book informs the student about seasons and what animals tend to do during season changes. ( )

In a bear's first year, he is surprised when leaves begin to fall from the trees, and tries to stick them back on, "but it was not the same." He hibernates until spring, when he emerges and welcomes the new buds on the trees.

See also: Fall Is Not Easy, I Wish It Would Snow, When Spring Comes ( )