Customer Reviews

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A child recounts the life of a maple tree selected from a nursery to grow in the family's yard. Although it's narrated by a person, the natural world or plants and animals are the primary focus. Hands involved in the various stages of planting are the only human elements included in the illustrations. Taking the tree from a tiny seed in a maple key, to a young seedling, to a leafy haven for birds, to a glorious display of autumnal reds and yellows, Ehlert uses simple cut paper and textured collage against primary backgrounds to illustrate this simple story that's rich in color and love of nature. Following the story Ehlert includes simple scientific facts and illustrated information about trees as well as detailed instructions for planting a tree and making treats for the birds. An excellent addition to a fall story time or classroom science segment. Ages 3-6.

This is the book to use when launching your fall themes. Every fall I read this book. The children listen intently and are drawn to the bright vivid colors. They love to predict and actively participate in the word patterns. There are so many lessons that you can use from this one book.

Great Book for using with science experiments about autumn leaves.

What first caught my attention, was the bright textured orange cover. Simple, but beautiful.
The illustrations are collages of real objects, leafs, and colorful paper cut outs.
The design is unique, with 2 of the pages having leaf-shaped holes on them.

The story is about a kid and his/her tree and the last 4 pages have very interesting information on trees, seeds, and even how to make a bird treat.

If your kids love trees and nature, this book is a must.

I think that this book is a great book for children. Not only does it tell the story of how a tree comes to be, it also has detailed pictures with captions. In the back of the book there is more detailed information on how trees grow and how to make special bird treats. This is fun for the whole family and could possibly be your childs favorite.

The illustrator uses vivid photographs, paper cut images, nature colors and pressed leaves to illustrate a child's description of a seed growing to a sapling. The writing consists of nice large letters and smaller typed descriptions of 'bird treat' or 'sugar maple', 'round-pointed spade' or 'downy woodpecker'. The last four pages of the book are an indepth look at leaves, buds, roots and sap, bar, seeds, etc. Great book to read to kids in the fall days. Good to use with an exercise of asking kids to go outside and each bring in something different. As you read the book to them, they will have a tactile example to go along with the pages in the book.

This book is a must-read every autumn in our home and was purchased for us by Grandma who saw how enthusiastically one of her other grandchildren responded to it. When I surprised them with it last night at bedtime, (along with When Autumn Comes, also recommended) they hung on every word. This book is both colorful and educational and has become a "classic" seasonal book for our family. My daughters (now age 9) plan to read it to their 5-6 y/o school book-buddy this year. You can't go wrong with this selection.

This is probably one of the cutest explanations of the life cycle of a sugar maple I have ever read. The story is told in first-person for an adorable and up-close view of a tree story.

The pictures are one of the best aspects: cute, creative collages done in a wide variety of materials.

I also appreciated the extra-sciency page at the back. Very handy book to have around.

My baby (10 months old) loves Lois Ehlert's vivid collages. He really enjoyed Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf with its crumpled tissue leaves and real tree tags along with charming representations of people, trucks, etc. For the adult reader, there is subtle humor in the inclusion of what look like real tags from trees, and the attribution of homesickness to the tree (just when it was getting settled in, they dug it up and took it to the garden center...). Older children just learning to read will probably get a kick out of the inclusion of "hidden words"... tiny scraps of text set right into the pictures, saying things like "bird treat" and "squirrel"... There's even a recipe for the bird treat in the back of the dust cover!

I purchased this book after seeing it recommended on a list of classic children's books. Unfortunately, I was rather underwhelmed by the book.

The text is very plain and straightforward. And unfortunately, much of it is no longer accurate as nurseries rarely get their seedlings from the woods as they used to. This is even pointed out in small print in an author's note on the copyright page.

The text is large black font placed on very brightly colored backgrounds, which can be a bit hard on the eyes. The illustrations are relatively plain as well. Overall, it gives the impression of starkness, despite the bright colors.

Overall, both the text and the illustrations were fine but nothing special. I'm getting rid of this book to make way on my shelves for better ones.