From a Blaze of Brilliance to a Blanket of White

With every gust of wind they rain down faster.  Swirls of gold, red, orange, brown and faded green fall.  A patchwork pattern of overlapping leaves covers the grass.  These colorful showers signal the passage of time in autumn 2017.  Only thirty-eight days remain until the arrival of the winter solstice.

There are now entire trees with bare branches lifting toward crystal blue skies one day and cloudy, gray vistas the next day.  September and October are memories.  Full of Fall (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, August 29, 2017) written and illustrated by April Pulley Sayre represents through poetic phrases and her signature photography the changes we witness as one season passes into the next.

September sun 
is low in the sky.

So long, summer.
Green, goodbye!

Whether you look at a large landscape as you travel down a path or road or focus on a single leaf in your own backyard, they herald change.  They are a reflection of what was and what will be.  The individual shapes of each tree are now outlined in their respective hues.

Shades of yellow, gold, orange and red hang like Nature's jewels on rough boughs of brown.  A canopy of color provides shelter from sun or rain.  Ponds, streams, rivers and lakes capture the array.

Run your hands over the bark on trunks.  Close your eyes and feel a single leaf or hold one up to the light filtering through the trees.  What message do they bring?

Soon the assistance leaves supply to trees is finished.  They let them go.  Now they nurture the dirt and water in a necessary cycle.  Their brilliance fades.  It's coming.  Snow.


As an astute observer of the world in which we live, April Pulley Sayre asks us, through her words, to notice the seasonal shift.  During those ninety days as our world spins from summer's end to autumn and then to winter, many small events contribute to the grand scheme.  Each one plays a significant part.

A series of phrases are joined by her rhyming words.  Some only have one or two words.  Others have six or seven. The cadences they create invite us to join her as we walk through the days of autumn.  Here is another sample passage.

Trees are ready.
Twigs let go.

Leaves slip
and spin.

Wind sweeps---
leaves blow!


Beginning with the opened, matching dust jacket and book case, we experience the full majesty of the transformation of autumn.  As you run your fingers over the front of the jacket, the title text is raised.  The large maple leaf has been given a matte finish in contrast to the glossy background.  It's as if we are touching a real leaf.  To the left, on the back, a squirrel scampers along a downed branch among a carpet of fallen yellow and brown leaves. 

The opening and closing endpapers are a rich, rusty orange.  On the title page an ancient stump, rings ragged and wide, provides a background for fallen leaves and text.  With each page turn a photograph raises our awareness of the variations revealed during this season. 

The point of view, through her camera lens, has us gazing through a field of browning grasses, light tipping the tops, watching closely as a squirrel grasps grass with edges blurred, or standing on the side of a pond, gasping in awe at the opposite shore lined with red, orange and yellow trees, their hues reflected in the water.  Some of the pictures span two pages and others are group by two or three.  The multiple illustrations on two pages are separated by thin white lines.  The placement of text is perfection.

One of my many favorite pictures spans two pages.  We are looking along a rough trunk of a tree upward as the branches stretch from page edge to page edge.  Patches of blue sky can be seen through the tiny yellow, gold and slightly green leaves.  It's absolutely exquisite.


April Pulley Sayre has a gift as a master poet and photographer.  She weaves words and images together in Full of Fall to fashion a sensory experience for readers.  This title, with the companion books, Raindrops Roll and Best in Snow, should be in every professional and personal collection.  At the close of the book two pages offer scientific explanations for particular phrases relative to leaves.  April Pulley Sayre also talks about Fall around the world and Never the same show.  She includes resources on the final page, an image of two beautiful leaves on bark.

To learn more about April Pulley Sayre and her other work, please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  You will enjoy the backstory associated with this title.  At the publisher's website you can view several beginning interior pages along with the explanation pages at the close of the book. April Pulley Sayre is interviewed at PictureBookBuilders about this title.

Embracing The Season

For too many days in May and June this year, residents in northern Michigan were probably wondering if Mother Nature had her seasons confused.  Frost advisories for several nights, cool temperatures in the morning where you could see puffs of breath, birds fluffed up to keep warm and plants and trees late to blossom and unfurl leaves.  Summer has not officially arrived yet but these seasonal oddities are reminders of the short three months until fall follows.

Earlier this spring when walking through the halls and shelves of my home away from home (the public library), a brightly covered book with a catchy alliterative title caught my eye.  Awesome Autumn:  All Kinds Of Fall Facts And Fun (Henry Holt and Company, August 2012) by Bruce Goldstone explores and explains the season.  Reading this will make you long for the equinox. 

AUTUMN 

IS A

SEASON OF

AWESOME

CHANGES.

Look around in autumn and you'll see a lot

of changes happening.  These changes take 

plants, animals, and people from the hot days

of summer to the cold days of winter.

We trade bathing suits and flip-flops for jeans and a sweatshirt.  The wearing of hats, scarves and mittens is not far behind.  We see less sun and more moon as the days shorten and the nights lengthen.

Readers are acquainted with the reason for the colorful array we see, why leaves drop from their branches and their purpose once fallen. Leaves are not alone as they cover the ground; seeds, nuts, pine cones and pods keep them company.  How many varieties of each have you found?  What of those leaves that remain green, bravely staying on the trees?  We learn their title and why.

A more scientific accounting is given for the handiwork of Jack Frost.  Certain animals gear up for long journeys to warmer climes while others dig and sleep.  Not only is the natural world preparing for the upcoming winter but people are working to bring in the fruits of their summer labors; harvesting the bounty.  

Interspersed among these informative pages are sensory discoveries; the touch, taste, shape and sound of autumn.  Crinkly leaves, crisp crunchy apples, witches hats and yard rakes, and the honking of migrating geese fill our world.  New outdoor activities come with the changing season as do the celebration of holidays and the making of crafts.  Fall has it all!

Each aspect visited by Bruce Goldstone throughout the title, clothing, the daylight versus nighttime lengths, the leaves, seeds, pods, nuts and pine cones, the use of our senses, frost, harvesting, migration, hibernation, animal adaptability with the changes, holidays and activities is brought to our attention with clarity and completeness; the length depending on his focus.  The text informs but also asks readers to question and expand their thinking.  Several pages include pictures of various types of leaves, seeds, pods, nuts and cones including identification labels.  Pictures of items associated with autumn ask readers to identify shapes.  We are shown possible handmade activities followed by easy-to-understand instructions for completion.

The entire volume is illustrated with lively, bright photographs. (Some are taken by Goldstone; all of those at the end are.) There is a playfulness to the layout and design which welcomes.  The letters on the jacket and cover are textured with leaves or made using leaves.  Those piles of leaves on the front cascade to the back, creating an orange background where leaf shapes house realistic signs of autumn.

Liberal use of white space highlights and provides a contrast to the colorful hues of the visuals.  Leaf shapes are used extensively to frame photographs.  To accentuate changes the left side of a two page spread will illustrate the before as the right side draws attention to autumn; a T-shirt is attached to a jacket, a tree in sunlight is attached to a tree at night, half of a leaf is green, the other is red, and another tree is shown with yellow leaves attached to a bare tree with snow on the ground.  Each two pages contains one or more large headlines followed by explanatory text and/or labels.  Creativity abounds!


As clean, crisp and colorful as the season itself, Awesome Autumn:  All Kinds Of Fall Facts And Fun by Bruce Goldstone is the go-to title for noting and knowing about this transition.   It's perfect for the individual reader and as a read aloud with a group; sure to prompt discussions and observations.  Without a doubt multiple copies will need to be made available.  Lucky for us I've gotten the word a new book in the series is in the works.

Follow this link to the publisher website to view eight illustrated pages from the title.