Covers that make you want to visit a pumpkin patch.
Can you believe September is upon us? Not sure how that happened. We are hosting friends from Chicago for the week, one of whom has never seen our beautiful city. I had grand plans for an Indian-Summer-themed itinerary of activities, but it seems the weather gods had other plans. Namely, it is fall. Completely, legitimately, and without a shadow of a doubt, fall. The leaves in our park are showing hints of color, the temps have dropped 20 degrees, rain is falling periodically, and I'm living in cardigans and wellie-boots. We decided to turn the week into a celebration of autumn instead, and went hiking up the thick clouds into Multnomah Falls, lit fires in the fireplace, and spent a whole afternoon at Powell's Books, waiting out a rainstorm. This was totally okay with me.
My love for fall runs inexplicably deep. As if I were still in grammar school, my internal clock seems to think that September, not January, is the start of a new year. I even have a host of books that I reserve specifically for the season, having read A Separate Peace every single autumn since the age of 13. (Yes, I have always been a nerd.) Last week, my pal Shari suggested something along the lines of a Book-Scout Fall Reading List. She had no idea just how excited the idea would make me. Because, 1. I love lists. 2. I love fall. and 3. I love the idea of getting to talk about great books that have been around a few years, rather than just new titles. I've decided such a list is probably best broken up into a few different groups, so readers can choose whichever reading level suits their fancy: Picture Books, Young Readers/Middle-Grade novels, or Young Adult.
The picture book list is near and dear to me, having already used many of the titles for my autumn story-times. Of all of the lists, it is the most directly concerned with the change in season and the natural world. And the titles that aren't explicitly fall-themed (like Otis, Library Lion, or Hansel and Gretel), seem somehow evocative of the season to me anyway, because of tone or illustration. It was darned near impossible to pare the list down to just my absolute favorites, so if you have any other fall favorites you'd like to see included, please share them in the comments! I will update the lists with reader suggestions as we go along. Without further ado...
__________________________________________________
The Book-Scout Autumn Reading List:
Picture Books
Otis, by Loren Long
Bear Feels Scared, by Karma Wilson
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, by Lois Ehlert
Looking for a Moose, by Phyllis Root
South, by Patrick McDonnell
Room on the Broom, by Jeanne Donaldson
Time to Sleep, by Denise Fleming
Hansel and Gretel, by Cynthia Rylant and Jen Corace
Pumpkin Soup, by Helen Cooper
The Little Yellow Leaf, by Carin Berger
Library Lion, by Michelle Knudson
Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies
Zen Ghosts, by John Muth
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, by Julia Rawlinson
Reader Suggestions:
In November, by Cynthia Rylant
The Night Bookmobile, by Audrey Niffenegger
Mousekin's Golden House, by Edna Miller
A Story for Bear, by Dennis Haseley
Leaves, by David Ezra Stein
A PDF of all three lists is in the works, for easy printing and presenting to your local librarian or book-seller. Happy reading!
