Great Books to Read Your Kids in the Fall

Along with all of the wonderful recipes we make in the Fall, I also love to pull out all of our Fall decorations, and Fall themed books. We really get into the season over here! Not only can I help my kids to understand what is happening with the weather and the trees outside, but we can learn about pumpkins, trees, leaves, and all of the wonderful activities that come with the cooler weather and the falling leaves outside.

It’s easy to turn around and supplement these great books with Fall crafts, Fall themed snacks, games, nature walks, identifying trees in our neighborhood, etc. We are always learning in our household, the Fall season just lends to fun opportunities to do something different and enjoy all of the changes we see outside.

These books give us some fantastic ideas to enjoy the season even more while we are learning about hibernation, the life cycle of seeds and trees, how leaves and animals get their food, and how we can truly take advantage of the splendor of the season. We really love reading these books every year in the Fall and adding to them with each new year.

Check out some of these amazing books and then go grab them for yourselves!

We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger

Just like the popular story, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,” three kids go on a leaf hunt and experience all of the wonder that the Fall season and nature has to show them as they go under a waterfall, paddle through a lake, climb up a hill, go through a dark forest, and collect leaves from all of the various kinds of trees in nature along the way. We loved learning about all of the different kinds of trees and having a leaf hunt of our own afterward.

The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis

What a great book! It was Halloween and three trouble-making kids found the biggest pumpkin ever at the top of a large hill. The boys snapped it off and got it rolling down the hill. Rhyming while telling the story, the author shows up how the pumpkin busted through several farms, scary people and animals alike until it finally came to rest at the bottom in a field. As it rolled down the hill, everyone it passed thought of something yummy Granny made with pumpkin. So when it came to a stop, naturally they went and got Granny to see the pumpkin. Her eyes lit up and you can probably guess what happened next, but you’ll want to see it for yourself.

Every Autumn Comes the Bear by Jim Arnosky

This is a beautifully drawn book about a very large black bear, how he lives through the season in the woods behind the storyteller’s house, and what he does when it comes time to hibernate. It is a non-fiction book in cartoon colors, allowing us to see the life of a bear in the Fall and Winter in real life.

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll

This is a cute story about two mice, Clayton and Desmond, that found a baby pumpkin growing in the garden and started tending to it. With two individuals taking such good care of the pumpkin, it grew to an enormous size, much bigger than any other pumpkin in town. However, they both had different plans for the pumpkin. One night when they were both protecting it from the cold, they discovered each other and made a compromise so that they could both benefit from the pumpkin. Very cute!

Leaves by David Ezra Stein

The story begins with a baby bear seeing the leaves falling in the Fall and not understanding. He thought something was wrong and tried to fix the trees. But he gave in when too many to fix started to fall and the snow started coming down. We got to see him choose a spot to hibernate and get covered in snow while he slept on a bed of soft fallen leaves. When he wakes up, it’s a celebration as he gets a pleasant surprise.

It’s Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall

This book inspired us to plant our own pumpkins this last spring so we could see the entire life cycle of the pumpkin ourselves and have our own homegrown pumpkins for the Fall. In fact, we just picked our first one this afternoon! In this book, we follow a little boy and girl, and their dog, as they plant a jack o’ lantern patch. My little one can’t wait for Halloween so we can finish the story in our own house.

Have You Seen Trees? by Joanne Oppenheim

This is such a beautiful book. This rhyming book walks you through all of the different types of trees, what their purposes are, including making nuts that we eat, and takes you through each season and shows you the changing colors. This is definitely a non-fiction book  for kids. My favorite part of the book is the glossary of all of the beautiful leaves at the end.

Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington

Love this! In this book a little boy named Jamie plants a pumpkin seed in the ground. We get to watch the entire life cycle of the pumpkin seed in simple words that even my little one can read. He gets to watch the flowers bloom, the pumpkin grow and even gets to pick it, take it home and carve it for Halloween. You’re going to love what he does at the end of the story.

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The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

This is a really popular book that I’m sure most kids have read at some point or another. It begins in the fall when the flowers dry out and release their seeds. It follows one particular seed along it’s journey, showing what happens to seeds along their destinations, and even after they’ve finally found a place to start taking root. It goes through every season. Only one flower survives and surprises everyone in the end. And then the flower dries in the Fall and releases it’s seeds and starts the process all over again.

I Am a Leaf by Jean Marzollo

This book explains the life of a leaf from the leaf’s point of view. It outlines how a leaf grows, what it does with sunlight, how it makes food and how it provides a source of food for all sorts of others in the neighborhood. We get to see it start as a baby and go through all of the seasons, including falling and becoming part of the soil again. It even discusses the leaf’s benefits to us.

The Pumpkin Patch by Margaret McNamara

In this book Katie’s class went to a pumpkin patch for a field trip and everyone got to choose a pumpkin to take home with them. Some kids picked big ones, some small ones, some tall ones and some funny shaped ones. Katie thought she had the perfect pumpkin until everyone made fun of her. But when she took it home, her dad showed her that it truly was the perfect pumpkin. When she took it back to school the next day, everyone agreed!

Whether you grab one book or all of them for yourselves, your children are going to love reading these Fall themed stories with you and learning about bears, seeds, trees, leaves, pumpkins and other animals. What a great way to bring in the Fall season and get everyone in the Fall mood! Read books, and then let creativity take you where it may after that as you will get tons of great ideas for crafts, snacks, projects and other learning experiences to enjoy with your kids.

Reading is supposed to transport you to another world and let you experience things you wouldn’t normally get to. It’s just an added bonus that we get to learn so many great things from the books that we read. And these are some really fantastic ones. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

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