#ReaditMD13 Theme Week - The Four Seasons - "Autumn, how we love thee!"

Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka and Chad Cameron. Autumnal fun!

We're rounding off a week looking at books that celebrate the four seasons of the year (even though sometimes it feels like they all roll into one, we're due snow next week, eep!) Autumn is our favourite time of the year, as the nights draw in, the temperature drops and the trees turn golden. Is there truly anything more satisfying than kicking your way through a huge drift of fallen leaves? Well we love doing that. 

So we're kicking off with "Fall Mixed Up" by Bob Raczka and Chad Cameron. As you'd expect, it's a crazy book full of brilliant rhymes, fabulous artwork and though it's a bit US-Centric, it's a huge amount of fun. 

Autumn leaves - let's stick with that theme for a moment...

The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger. Utterly sublime!

With essences of Eric Carle, and a charming and touching story, Carin Berger's "The Little Yellow Leaf" is a fabulous tale of what happens when the very last leaf on the tree hangs on for dear life. Should they succumb to the autumn breeze or stay there as long as possible? The strong messages of bravery and friendship that bubble under the surface of this story are what makes it an essential autumn read. 

It's just around the corner so let's take a look at...

"In November" by Cynthia Rylant and Jill Kastner. So beautiful!

"In November" by Cynthia Rylant and Jill Kastner is a very special book, describing how Autumn makes it feel like the world is shutting down, battening down the hatches before winter. We see the animal kingdom preparing their winter stores of food before hibernation, and of course the first fall of leaves of every colour as the ground is carpeted with browns, golds and reds. A veritable Autumn feast for the eyes. 

You'll notice we've kept well away from Halloween - there's a good reason for that (it's because the theme next week is - yep you've guessed it - Halloween) but we'll sneak at least one Halloween book in anyway...

"Fragoline and the Midnight Dream" by Clemency Pearce and Rebecca Elliot. One of our favourite spooky reads!

"Fragoline and the Midnight Dream" is a book that just gets better and better with each reading. I think I've completely lost count of how many times we've borrowed this from the library (we can never seem to get hold of our own copy!). I love it because it's such an utter pleasure to read out loud. Charlotte loves it because Fragoline is just the right side of naughty, as she gads about after darkness cheekily roaming the neighbourhood before realising that perhaps the dark and spooky night isn't the best place for a little girl to be. She's bold, she's sassy, and we love her to bits! The perfect teaser for the sort of books you can expect to see all next week as #ReadItMD13 continues. 

Hope you've enjoyed our seasonal favourites, and please, as always, if you have any of your own, do leave a comment or tweet us @readitdaddy.