Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
Starred Review.PreSchool-Grade 3&ndash;This potent synthesis of art and prose conveys a child's first awareness of the changing seasons with reverence and wonder. Fletcher, a tiny fox, is concerned when his favorite tree turns brown. His mother tells him, Don't worry, it's only autumn, but the tree hardly seems fine to Fletcher. As its leaves fall and flutter away, the youngster struggles in vain to catch and reattach them. When only one leaf remains, he does his level best to secure it to the limb, but eventually the stem dries up and the leaf pops off. Mournful and confused, he carries it home and takes it to bed with him. Still worried about his tree, he wakes up the next morning to find that it has undergone a sweet and satisfying transformation. Beeke's resplendent watercolors work beautifully with the book's tone, content, layout, and design. Picture books about nature sometimes suffer from cloying, excessively pastoral language or imagery; this rare example succumbs to neither. A first purchase for every collection.&ndash;Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SCCopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.