My daughter and I LOVE reading! I try and rotate the books that she has on her bookshelves in her bedroom every 4 weeks or so. This week it was time to dig out some of our favourite autumnal reads. I thought I'd share them here with you.
Brambly Hedge Autumn Story by Jill Barklem
I'm sure most of you have discovered this series of books featuring the lives of a community of mice who live self-sufficiently in the hedgerow. My daughter and I love all of the tales but particularly, Autumn. The mice have to harvest everything before the rains come, and the mouse Primrose gets herself into a pickle. The illustrations have my daughter and I pouring over the pages – how about the harvest mice with their woven grass house and its thistledown carpets?!
Little Witch Hazel by Phoebe Wahl
An earthy collection of four stories that celebrate the seasons, nature, and life, from award-winning author-illustrator Phoebe Wahl. Little Witch Hazel is a tiny witch who lives in the forest, helping creatures big and small. She's a midwife, an intrepid explorer, a hard worker and a kind friend. We love the illustrations from this brilliant unschooled creative!
Humongous Fungus by Lynne Boddy and Wenjia Tang
Fungi can be found in every ecosystem. They carpet the forest floor, decompose matter, feed plants, and even change animals' behaviour. Mushrooms come in all colours, shapes, and sizes. Did you know that there are over 1.5 million known fungus species? This book really opens our eyes to the wonder of fungi!
A gorgeous collection of bakes, gardening projects and craft ideas to celebrate the turning of the seasons in a traditional way. We love the gratitude tree, and the apple chip recipe is super easy and very tasty!
Sweep by Louise Greig and Julia Sarda
A fun lyrical story about sweeping away bad feelings. We love looking at the illustrations and chatting about how to work through big emotions.
A Poem for Every Autumn Day, edited by Allie Esiri
This is a gorgeous seasonal collection of brilliant poetry about my favourite time of year. My daughter and I have discovered plenty of new poems from poets such as John Agard, Patience Agbabi and Shakespeare!
Autumn Feast by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss
This enchanting tale takes the reader on a journey through autumn as the leaves fall from the trees and the animals collect their winter stores. We have a couple of others in this series of seasonal celebrations and enjoy the gentle story and lovely illustrations.
Shirley Hughes Out and About A First Book of Poems
I love Shirley Hughes’ illustrations – there’s so much life in each drawing. These poems are organised by season, and my daughter and I enjoy revisiting this book every few months to read the ‘new’ verses. In Autumn, there’s poems about feasts and rain and mists. Gorgeous!
The Circles in the Sky by Karl James Mountford
This beautiful picture book, which deals with death in a very natural and matter-or-fact way, has a very autumnal feel to it, so it's made it onto the seasonal bookshelf, although not traditionally about autumn. My daughter loves the illustrations and the way that Fox tries to get Bird to play with him, until Moth steps in and quietly explains that Bird is dead.
The Curious Nature Guide: Explore the Natural Wonders all Around You by Clare Walker Leslie
I’ve had this book for a while – this year my daughter is old enough to really benefit from the fun projects inside; we’ve been talking about the changing light and migration using the prompts in this gorgeous guide.
Beti and the Little Round House by Atinuke and Emily Hughes
I love this book so much! It tells the tale of Beti and her family in their handbuilt roundhouse over the course of four seasons. In Autumn she gets lost in a storm and her homecoming is so warm and heartening. I thoroughly recommend this book.
The Queen in the Cave by Júlia Sarda
This beautiful adventure story is about three sisters and one of them coming of age and leaving childhood behind. It's a great ways to introduce the concept of change in family life within a fairytale setting. Each page is brimming with delicious imagery. My daughter and I absolutely love spotting the magical autumn creatures in the borders and within the pictures. It’s maybe more of a Samhain treat, but I love it so we’re getting it out early!
This book is stuffed full of seasonal ideas – we’ve made a rowan berry necklace and a creamy vegetable soup already from the September pages. There’s instructions for drying mushrooms and a recipe for a rosehip soup too. In October, it’s all about the study of wind and how to make your own wind sock and rain gauge. Lovely, funny illustrations dotted throughout and the fact that it's guided by Findus the cat, make this really appealing.
Harvest Days: Giving Thanks Around the World by Kate DePalma and Martina Peluso
This book is a joyful invitation to explore harvest festivals from around the globe! The text is lyrical and rhyming and the illustrations rich and colourful. We love the pages at the back, which dive deeper into the 12 cultures highlighted in the book. The information has prompted lots of discussion about food; how it’s produced, by whom and why we practice gratitude.
The Autumn Equinox: Celebrating the Harvest by Ellen Jackson and Jan Davey Ellis
We have most of Ellen’s seasonal celebration books and love this book about harvest celebrations around the world. It includes a read-aloud harvest tale, recipes, and craft activities. Like baked cinnamon apples, moon cakes and gratitude notes. Lovely!
Do you have a favourite autumn or harvest book?
I’d love to hear your recommendations.
Drop me a line to letters@thegreenparent.co.uk
