GLORIOUS! We are upon peak autumn and it is bold, cozy, and crisp all at once. What better way do I like to celebrate any time of year than with a children’s books curation. First, there is a separate, early autumn book list that is all about APPLES, published here. Forthcoming is the Reformation Day and Thanksgiving book list. I have separated them all, for organization, in blog posts, and in my home I bring them out and put them away in respective phases. But if you toss them all together and keep all of them out for all of fall, truly who could blame you.
I love the work of a librarian – maintaining a home library collection and passing on book lists and curations to my friends and readers. One of the most central, beautiful, and important parts of being a librarian is the preserving and passing on of information. And, there is something incredible happening, I think, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually when a child (or adult) has cozy shelves of beautiful and interesting books to look through. I believe it is a great gift for my children to grow up around a big home library. I believe it makes David and I better parents and people.
In general what I look for in children’s literature (and all art forms) is a piece that somehow captures some of whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, of any virtue, praiseworthy – meditate on these things. (That list is from Philippians 4.)
Books that come out into the house annually for a season are going to be pretty powerful for family culture so I want to find good ones. I consider this work to be refining a child’s palette. What is excellent? I am helping shape an appetite for what is beautiful, as defined by God.
For autumntime I love including selections with pumpkins, leaves, the harvest moon, and colorful hikes – with nothing demonic (ghosts, monsters) or witchcraft. Strangely common, even in children’s books. Strangely common parents find this permissible, even christians.
- Every Autumn Comes the Bear by Jim Arnosky: A lot of children’s books can sometimes be cute-sy, which is fine for the right age and time, but this one was more masculine and about the majesty and even beautiful viciousness of the black bear. And, lots of autumn seasonal descriptions.
- Our Created Moon by Don DeYoung: This one is a little different than the others on the list. It’s longer and very informative. I LOVE this book. This would be for elementary and on up; I as an adult loved reading it and learned a lot. There is like, the witchcraft or pagan ways people have the moon related to halloween, but I love including it for the farming and harvest moon parts of fall. Also, biblically the moon is a symbol of God’s faithfulness so that is fitting for harvesttime as well. I love when I can get my hands on a science book that takes anything in bible says as the foundation, and then what we observe in the world and through the blessing of the scientific method fits on top of that. This book is young earth and creationist. It is a delight.
- Autumn is Here by Heidi Pross Gray: I like the style of art and it has poetry about some of the different parts of nature and home related to fall. It includes some fall elements that aren’t often highlighted in children’s books, like geese and mums.
- Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber: A sweet board book. It is great for toddlers, but it has the information to help you identify different leaves – such as red maple, sugar maple, white oak, and basswood. That makes it great for older children too with the fun of practicing identification.
- Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall: This is a beloved. I had some pause about whether to put this one in the autumn book list or the books in my “life through the year” book list. This one could fit in either, but the heart of the story happens in october. And I love it so much I wouldn’t mind it on both. It is my husband’s all time favorite children’s book. It captures the beauty of american history, provision, art, poetry, and the changes of seasons. The illustrator Barbara Cooney once said she didn’t make pictures for children, but for people. It is the best of american life. I love savoring every part of the year and each time I read this book I do a little more.
- God Bless Our Fall by Hannah Hall: A simple book about some of the activities a family would do together during fall. Throughout, it speaks about God creating every part of our world, and at the end we think him and say, “God bless our fall!”
- God’s Blessings of Fall by Jean Matthew Hall: This book includes different scenes from a farm and through nature. It would be a slight step up in age from God Bless Our Fall.
- Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro: This is great for learning about what leaves do during the year. It has scientific information, but also feels cozy and home oriented.
- We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger: Like Leaf Jumpers, it has leaf identification information. It is about some children going on adventures through different parts of nature. It would be a slight step older than Leaf Jumpers.
- Peter Rabbit and the Pumpkin Patch by Beatrix Potter: Peter Rabbit, you guys know him and those illustrations. This one is about Peter and his cousin Benjamin Bunny. It has a boy-ish amount of adventure and danger and is good for little ones. Then in Beatrix Potter form, the last page GETS ME. There is a beautiful illustration of everybody back home and mom has made some food that is charming and simple. This one ends with creamy boiled pumpkin and pumpkin seeds for dinner.
- Pumpkin Patch Blessings by Kim Washburn: This has short poetry about the different sights and traditions of fall and acknowledges that God made it all and we thank him for it.
- Hiking Day by Anne Rockwell: This one I love because fall hikes are amazing and yet it might not be the most common topic of children books for this time of year. It is about a family going on a hike together and speaks about the joy of walking through nature. It is lovely.
All of these on amazon (at time of posting) would be $143 to have the whole slate. If you wanted just a few, I’d say the shortlist of the very, very best are Ox-Cart Man, Our Created Moon, and Hiking Day – in that order. But, all of these are strong and over a long time I have sifted MANY ugly or poor ones, even just within the autumn niche!
I sometimes included in the above list loose age descriptions, but all of these are flexible. You can read anything aloud to a baby and they love it and it’s good for them. But I’m letting you know as far as the board material, length of text, some are, in a way more elementary vs. toddler.
This post is a part of my very selective curations series of books and movies.
