Miranda+Felice


 * Miranda Felice / FallAnnotated Bibliography for Fall/Autumn geared towards preschool aged children **

__ Resource Books __ Goldstone, Bruce. (2012) Awesome autumn. Henry Holt and Company, LTD. 48 pages. Personal collection. This resource book is full of information, photographs and activities related to the autumn season. Like most books on the season, there is plenty of discussion on science related aspects like leaves changing color, migration of dolphins and whales, and days getting shorter There is also information about family and community traditions: playing football, Thanksgiving celebrations and dressing up for Halloween. The book is full activity ideas like roasting pumpkin seeds and making leaf rubbings This book contains a lot of information to support activities for a unit on the season of Fall. The layout is easy to peruse to find information and ideas. Not only can the information and photographs support scientific discovery and inquiry, but there is plenty of social studies information as well. Activities support fine and gross motor skills as well as creating art work. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of community and historical thinking.

Loughrey, Anita. (2012) Squirrel’s fall search. Sandy Creek. 22 pages. Personal collection. This story book includes resource information in the back of the book. The story is charming about a squirrel who finds himself lost from his brother and food during fall. The book realistically sees the corn being harvested, the blackberries ripe on thorny bushes and leaves swirling around. His adventure takes him into new parts of the forest where he meets a little brown mouse, a fluffy grey rabbit and, finally. a wise owl who helps him finds his way home. He is glad to be back with his brother and glad to share his food with his brother. The story introduces many concepts of fall in a kid friendly way. In addition, there are some beautiful ideas for activities presented in the book to stimulate discussion of the ideas, such as taking a fall walk, making a leaf collage and acting out the story. In addition to ideas for activities, the book presents a fact sheet of what the reader learns about fall from reading the story. Some of the activities support fine and gross motor skills as well as creating art work. This book can be used to relate to curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of community and historical thinking.

Marsh, Laura. (2012) Halloween. National Geographic Society. 32 pages. Personal collection. This fun fact book explores current traditions of Halloween in the United States as well as its origins and how it is celebrated in other parts of the world. Some interesting facts are that even though many Americans carve pumpkins and set them aglow with candlelight, this tradition originated in Ireland by carving beets, potatoes and turnips. Also, Halloween started in ancient times when people tried to scare away ghosts by dressing in costumes. The book presents many Halloween traditions and is great resource for a teacher to reference. In addition to social studies information, some science information is presented with beautiful supporting photographs. In particular, the book shows the pumpkin growing from a seed, vine growing from the seed, and, finally, a fruit (the pumpkin) grows on the vine. In addition to supporting scientific discovery, this book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of family and geography.

McGovern, Ann. (1991) … If you sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. Scholastic, Inc. 80 pages. Personal collection. This book contains a wealth of information about the Pilgrims voyage on the Mayflower in 1620 and their first year on land. There is an amazing cutaway drawing of the Mayflower showing where the Pilgrims stayed during the voyage: a room located well below deck, directly above the cargo and general supplies. Along with detailed information on the conditions of the travel, there is also much information about the first year in the new world. There is information on formation of the first laws and choosing of the first governor, ways the Pilgrims lived and problems they faced and the First Thanksgiving to name just a few. The book gives insight into the lives and ways of the Pilgrims. The information is very well organized and the Table of Contents is very useful in quickly finding specific information. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of historical thinking, family, community and geography.

Metaxas, Eric. (1999) Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving. Thomas Nelson, Inc. 40 pages. Personal collection. This book is an historical account of one Native American’s experience with Pilgrims and the fall holiday of Thanksgiving. Squanto was 12 years old when British traders came to Massachusetts and captured him and sold him into slavery. All is not lost; Squanto faces his adversity and finds opportunities to regain control of his life. He is bought by Spanish monks who treat him kindly. He travels to England where and English family befriends him. Squanto eventually makes it back to his homeland after 10 years away. Back in Massachusetts he finds his entire village has died from sickness and the Pilgrims have settled. Squanto speaks English and is able to communicate with the Pilgrims. Despite the poor treatment by British traders 10 years before, Squanto agrees to help the Pilgrims survive, leading to the beginning of Thanksgiving. The book sets the stage for the perils of Native Americans when European travelers came to their land. It depicts the treachery of some traders and how they violently captured the young natives for slavery. It shows there are also kind Europeans that help Squanto. The book also paints the Native Americans tribes were not all friendly and trusting like the Patuxets tribe of Squanto’s. It accurately accounts on happenings and lifestyles of the early 1600’s with beautiful illustrations. The book is geared towards children five to nine years old, but the material can be used as a resource for pre-school aged children. This book can be used to relate to curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of historical thinking and geography.

__ Children’s Nonfiction Books __

Adams, Michelle M. (2009) What is Thanksgiving? Candy Cane Press. 24 pages. Personal collection. This book uses rhyming and realistic illustrations to explore exactly what Thanksgiving is. Typical American Thanksgiving Day traditions are included. These include the feast of turkey, pies and green beans; working hard in the kitchen to prepare the meal; parades celebrating the day; football games and family getting together. With all these good things, the real purpose of Thanksgiving is presented: giving thanks for all we have in our lives. This book is discusses current Thanksgiving traditions and encourages children to connect to their own family traditions. It includes remembrances of making turkeys out of hand print cutouts, which connects nicely to an art project to support fine motor skills and creative art projects. In addition, this book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of family and community.

Hennessy, B. G. (1999) One little, two little, three little pilgrims. Puffin Books. 25 pages. Personal collection. This non-fiction counting book gives information about the life and times of early Thanksgiving days. First the reader counts the pilgrim boys and girls. Next, ten little Wampanoag boys and girls are counted. The book gives information on the daily lives of the Wampanoag and pilgrim children. Finally, the books counts out ten big turkeys and final Thanksgiving feast. Supplemental material in the book explains that the Wampanoag lived in Cape Cod and are among the Algonquin speaking people and other supplemental facts for a teacher to use when discussing the book with their students. This book shows children how life was back in 1621 in Cape Cod. This book supports math standards in counting to ten. This book can also be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the area of family and historical-thinking.

Maass, Robert. (1999) A is for autumn. Henry Holt and Company, LLC. 25 pages. Personal collection. This non-fiction alphabet book contains beautiful photographs of autumn and associated happenings. The book gives information on the season of fall with pictures of birds flying south and frost as water freezes. The book features photographs from nature and local neighborhoods. It presents information about autumn while reviewing alphabet characters. This book supports language arts standards in the area of alphabet knowledge. This book can also be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the area of community.

Skameas, Nancy J. (2012) The Story of Thanksgiving. Ideals Publications. 22 pages. Personal collection. The board book uses simple language and colorful illustrations to retell the story of the first Thanksgiving. The book starts by asking why we celebrate Thanksgiving. The children learn about the Pilgrims voyage on the Mayflower, hardships in the new land, how the Squanto and other Native Americans taught them to plant food and the first feast Pilgrims shared with Native Americans. This book is a great introducing a pre-school-aged child to the history and significance of Thanksgiving and the on-going tradition. This book helps a child to connect historical events to current practices in this American holiday. This book can be used to relate to curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of family, historical thinking and geography.

Thayer, Tanya. (2001) Fall. Learner Publications. 23 pages. Personal collection. This book explores the season of Fall. The book contains bright and interesting photographs complemented by simple text. The child sees photos of Autumn occurrences such as bears eating berries in the fall, children playing in piles of fallen leaves, people preserving food, squirrels storing nuts, and leaves changing color. This book introduces the preschooler to the Fall season in a meaningful way. This book shows how fall displays itself in our community. It introduces some science information as well as social and community information. The book supports making scientific observations from viewing the detailed photos and forming hypothesis as to why the animals or people do those things in fall. In addition, this book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of family and community.

__ Children’s Fiction Books __ Abbot, Judi. (2013) Mole’s harvest moon. Random House Group. 28 pages. Personal collection. Mole and his friends plan an autumn feast. They plan to have all their favorite foods of the season. Things like apple, pear and berry pie and creamy pumpkin soup. They have many of the ingredients needed, but still need a few. Bear, mouse and rabbit agree to gather the needed items. It is near dark and they have far to travel so Mole assures them that the harvest moon will lead them to his home if it gets dark. They gather the food, but are scared by weasels after dark so they trick the weasels by scaring them away. When the harvest moon leads them to Mole’s house, they learn the weasels were there and they were not trying to scare them, but they were there to help them find the way home. They all enjoyed the delicious feast. This book encompasses the feelings of fall through the eyes of the animals. The trees are changing colors, the apples are ripe and pumpkins are in the patch. Some pumpkins are even carved for Halloween. This book can be used to stimulate discussion on the fall season in the lives of the children. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of community.

Brown, Margaret W. (1998) The little scarecrow boy. Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. 30 pages. Personal collection. This introduces the role of a scarecrow in protecting the fields. A young scarecrow boy wants to go with his father each day to scare the crows away from the corn crops. Each day the father says the boy must wait until he is bigger, but he teaches the boy to make six scary faces. Once the boy knows all six faces, he decides to sneak out early in morning to scare the crows. He goes through all six faces to finally scare the crows away. His father arrives and is so proud. This book shows children a traditionally fall character of a scarecrow. It supports math in counting up to six with the six faces the boy tries one at a time. It shows a scarecrow family in a similar way that children may live. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the area of family.

Bemonster, Ludworst. (2012) Frankenstein. Feiwel and Friends. 43 pages. Personal collection. This story is a parody on the classic story of Madeline. Frankenstein lives with other monsters with Miss Devel in her creepy only castle. Frankenstein is not the littlest, but rather the ugliest. One night he loses his head and must go to the Dr. Bone’s laboratory for a new one. This book includes many of the characters of Halloween and promotes a playful scary feeling. There in Frankenstein, a mummy, a pumpkin headed monster and skeleton to name a few monsters. This fits in with a unit about Halloween, its history and traditions. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the area of community.

Berger, Carin. (2008) The little yellow leaf. Harper Collins Publishers. 31 pages. Personal collection. This book explores the season of fall as it flows into winter. The story centers on a little yellow leaf who does not want to fall off an old oak tree along with all the other colored leaves. The book describes all the activity around the little yellow leaf such as children playing in piles of leaves, pumpkins getting large and geese flying south. Finally the little yellow leaf finds a friend: a scarlet leaf on the other side of the tree. With snow on the ground, they decide to fall together. This book explores things that happen in autumn. This supports scientific inquiry as to why the leave fall and the geese fly south. This book can also be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the area of community.

Bunting, Eve. (2013) In the haunted house. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 13 pages. Personal collection. This Halloween book brings the reader into a haunted house uses phrases that rhyme. In the house many Halloween monsters and creatures are seen. There are witches, Frankenstein, mummies, skeletons, bats and vampires to name a few. The book has lift-the flap pages and allows the reader to open doors, push aside curtains and lift lids to coffins. This book shows children many of the traditional creatures seen on Halloween. It supports motor skill development in opening the flaps and language arts with the rhyming text. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the area of community.

Dean, Kimberly & James. (2013) Pete the cat: The first Thanksgiving. Harper Collins Publishers. 14 pages. Personal collection. This book has Pete the cat in his school Thanksgiving day play. Pete plays a pilgrim who sails to Plymouth Rock on the Mayflower. The pilgrims arrive in November and suffer a difficult winter. Come spring, they decide to stay and they meet friendly Native Americans who help them learn to grow food to harvest. To thank the Natives for their kindness, the pilgrims invite them to share their harvest in what is now known as the first Thanksgiving. This fictional book blends history in the story of the play using animated characters like Pete and his friends. This book explores the history of Thanksgiving. This book helps a child to connect historical events to current practices in this American holiday. This book can be used to relate to curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of family, historical thinking and geography.

Donaldson, Julia. (2003) Room on the broom. Penguin Books, Ltd. 17 pages. Personal collection. This book uses rhyme in its story telling. The witch in this story is not mean. She willingly gives a ride on her broom to the animals that help her find the things she loses as she flies. A dog finds her hat, a bird finds her hair bow and a frog finds her wand. She gives them all and her cat a ride on her broom. This load is so great that the broom snaps in half and hurls her alone into the path of a mead dragon. The dragon captures her and tries to eat her when her four friends come to her rescue. Together with magic they create a new broom that is large and strong enough to carry them all around. This is a good book to read when working on a unit about Halloween. Witches are part of Halloween. The book has a good message that friends help each other and that one good turn deserves another. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the area of community.

Ehlert, Lois. (2005) Leaf man. Harcourt, Inc. 36 pages. Personal collection. This book colorfully uses leaves to tell a story and create images of many components of nature. Leaf man is blow by the wind in many directions and sees many sights. The book is set up to help a child understand geography and distances and how one space flows to another. The pages hint to the many terrains. This book places leaves front and center. The student sees leaves of many shapes, sizes and colors along with many components of nature. This supports scientific inquiry and the final page identifies the names of many common leaves. This book can also be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the area of geography.

Mayr, Diane. (2007) Run, Turkey, Run! Walker Publishing Company. 15 pages. Tempe Library. It’s the night before Thanksgiving and everyone is excited to give thanks, besides Turkey. To avoid being the highlight of Thanksgiving dinner, he manages to escape! He tries to disguise himself by rolling in the mud with the pigs and swimming with the ducks. Finally he hides in the trees, where the farmer gives up and decides to have grilled cheese instead. Turkey is finally able to give thanks. This looks at the Thanksgiving holiday from the perspective of the turkey who does not want to become the feast. It is a look at the holiday tradition from a new point of view. It can be used to show how everyone is thankful for different things. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of community.

McCarty, Peter. (2013) Fall ball. Henry Holt and Company. 33 pages. Personal collection. This book takes place in rural America during the fall season. Children are in school. But cannot wait to get home and play football at the park. Bobby leads the plans to play football. Jimmy chooses to rake leaves instead of playing ball. The football game at the park ends when the dog takes the football and run to Jimmy’s huge pile of leaves. All the children collide with leaves and then are called home. At home, there is still more football for Bobby. This time it is on television. This book presents some information about a community in rural America during the fall season. We know the location is rural because it talks of the school bus going down country roads and seeing cows. Some children in the class may relate to seeing cows on the side of the road. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of family and community.

Sutherland, Margaret. (2000) Thanksgiving is for giving thanks. Grosset & Dunlap. 22 pages. Personal collection. This book discusses Thanksgiving as a holiday where we prepare a special feast and give thanks for the things that make us happy. It looks at giving thanks from a young child’s point of view. The children are thankful for their families, their teacher, friends and their room. They are also thankful for things they get to do like drink hot chocolate on a cold day, playing with friends and pets, and reading with an adult. This book shows Thanksgiving from a kid’s point of view. It shows family and community activities typical in a child’s life. It supports fall themes such as falling leaves and Thanksgiving celebrations. This book can be used to relate to social studies curriculum and Arizona early learning standards in the areas of family and community.