Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Autumn Book Basket

After the success of the summer book basket, I think seasonal book baskets are going to be a permanent addition to our routine. It's such a great way to draw attention to some books from your shelves that might otherwise fall by the wayside. So yesterday Dieter and I made the sign for the basket (with homemade rubber stamps!) and I gathered up our autumn themed books. I didn't have as many as I thought I did, so this is a rather slim collection, but I'll add to it every year and also keep my eyes open while thrifting in the future.
First, Colors, a board book. This is not strictly a seasonal book, but the cover has beautiful fall leaves, so I included it. Again, such a great way to use the book more. I love that this series of board books has graduated pages to ease turning for little hands and beautiful photography. It's a real treat.

Autumn and Herbst. These wordless board books are just beautiful and suggest lots of fun, seasonal activities. I love looking at these with the boys.

Pumpkin Moonshine. A sweet story of a little girl visiting her grandpa. When she decides to harvest a large pumpkin, it gets away from her and takes an exciting ride down the hill. Lovely Tasha Tudor illustrations.
Clifford's First Autumn. Not my taste as much as the others, but Dieter loves Clifford, so I'm happy to read it to him. I love a seasonal book, and I very much like that this one is just about the season without being about Halloween (we have a Halloween Clifford, too, but that's for later).

Rainy Morning. This one is really my taste. Bright, color saturated illustrations with lots of fall foliage and a very fanciful story by Daniel Pinkwater whom I love so much. He is just so "out of the box," you know? Jacob used to read his fiction for young adults/teens, and I love this picture book just as much. The story is, a man and his wife are sitting around on a rainy morning, eating one breakfast and then another, when they decide to let in the cat, who is cold and wet. Next thing you know they are letting in more and more animals and then crazier and more fanciful things. It's darling--go find it at your library.
That's our little autumn collection. If you have favorite autumn reads, I'd love to hear about them. The Green Pumpkin will surely visit our house again this year and may need ideas!

11 comments:

bigbucketgirl said...

We're putting ours together today..i love your label! A lovely idea with the stamps. The favourites here this year, (our usual autumn books are in storage) are Helen Coopers books..particularly Delicious! with a recipe for pink soup in it. The colours and illustrations are very autumnal for me! I'll let you know when we post our list.

Meg said...

I think I tucked away some fall books--I stashed all the Christmas books last January and I think I took some fall ones as well. Time to break out the fall ones. Ours are mostly the apple/pumpkin picking variety. A favorite is Pumpkin Soup. I don't recall the author offhand, but it's a cute story.

Sarah said...

I have a few other books besides "Pumpkin Moonshine" my favorite.

The Brambly Hedge story "Autumn Story", "Pumpkins: A Story for a Field" by Ray, "Stone Wall Secrets" by Thorson (because we get out on a lot of tramps by stone walls in the fall). "Johnny Appleseed" by Reeve Lindbergh

Then of course there's the delightful harvest chapter in "Little House in the Big Woods"

Maymomvt said...

I'm having blogger profile issues. The "Sarah" above is me from "In these hills." sorry to clutter coments.

Andrea said...

Pumpkin Moonshine looks fun...I got out our fall books this weekend and found they were mostly Halloween books. We have one cute one called "Fall, Leaves, Fall," which has nice, simple collage illustrations and is a fun story. I also love "Hist Whist," by EE Cummings and illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray with really fun, spooky pictures. We have Flower Fairies of the Autumn, somewhere but I can't find it, and I'll add Squirrel Nutkin.

How do you make homemade rubber stamps?

Kristy said...

I just spent a good hour reading back through your old posts.Taking down recipes and reading about Rainers progress. I feel like I know you already and will be back. x

Elise said...

I just found your blog thru Bella's. I really enjoyed reading thru your archives. You really appeal to my earthy, crunchy side that I don't let out that often.
Elise

Elise said...

Oh, we also love The Scarecrow and the Spider. Such a good book!!
Elise

Mary Beth said...

Thanks for the great suggestions, everyone! Sarah--I used to have those Brambley Hedge stories for Faith. Oh how I wish I still had them!

Andrea--I'll explain the stamps tomorrow. It's simple and fun.

Angela said...

oh, my girls love Pumpkin Moonshine. Their other fall favorite? Wild Child - it's a wonderful book with gorgeous pictures.

www.larksongknits.com

Anonymous said...

What a great blog! I like this post--lots of great fall resources, especially the books, I will look for some...