Autumn Feast: Nature's Harvest

By Author / Illustrator

Sean Taylor, Alex Morss, illus Cinyee Chiu

Genre

Environment & Nature

Age range(s)

Publisher

Happy Yak

ISBN

9780711278653

Format

Hardback

Published

08-08-2024

Synopsis

Discover the wonder of autumn and learn how wildlife prepares for the colder months ahead with this heart-warming non-fiction picture book. The wind is blowing. Golden leaves are falling. Animals are busy gathering food to store away. It's time to celebrate nature during the cooler autumn months...

In this beautiful, blustery story, join two young children and their mums as they go on an autumnal adventure in their local park. They spot amazing plants and animals and are enchanted by the sights and sounds around them - crunchy leaves, vibrant colours, and a feast of nuts, berries and fruit.

They pass through several wildlife habitats and begin to see that nature is full of life. They notice the little things - seeds blowing in the wind, mushrooms on the ground and empty shells all around.

Co-authors Sean Taylor (bestselling picture book author) and Alex Morss (ecologist, journalist and educator) offer a gentle introduction to autumn and different animal behaviors, including annotated illustrations. In the golden park, the fruit and leaves have fallen from the trees and the animals are collecting food. Why are the animals doing this? Where are they going?

Filled with fascinating facts and stunning illustrations, the books in this popular series encourage children to discover more about nature and the seasons. This is the fourth and final book, following Winter Sleep, Busy Spring and Wild Summer.

Download Extract

Reviews

On a lovely autumn afternoon, two young children head off out on a walk with their Mama, whilst their Mum stays at home. Whilst out, they explore and discover the beauties of nature as autumn approaches before heading home to their Mama where they make flapjacks with the apples they collected.

Autumn Feast: Nature's Harvest is a lovely example of narrative non-fiction which introduces children to the wonders of autumn through the discoveries of the children in the story. Sharing this with little ones before heading off to explore the local area would allow them to look for things which crop up in the story and recall the explanations which Mama, 'a nature brainbox', gives to the children on their walk. The natural curiosity of the siblings in the story is sure to be reflected in any following in their footsteps!

The illustrations convey a sense of the family's inquisitiveness and capture the colours of autumn perfectly. One of the children is a little girl called Holly, but the other - the narrator - looks like a boy, although no name is given, allowing the reader to decide.

At the end of the story, there is a factual section which gives a definition of autumn before looking in more detail at what happens to plants and animals at this time of year. Various fungi are identified by Mama in the story, but she makes no mention of the dangers of touching these; however, in the end notes, it does say that some fungi are poisonous.

Ideas for how readers can help as well as suggestions for where to look to find out more are also given. This is a lovely book, perfect for this time of year!

Picture book / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher