Audrey has illustrated numerous popular books herself, including SILLY SALLY, A DOG NEEDS A BONE, and BLUE SKY (2012). She often collaborates with her husband, Caldecott Honor illustrator Don Wood (THE NAPPING HOUSE KING BIDGOOD'S IN THE BATHTUB IT'S DUFFY TIME!), and she created many bestselling books with their son, Bruce Wood (ALPHABET MYSTERY TEN LITTLE FISH). (This book was reviewed digitally.Audrey Wood has been writing award-winning children's books for more than thirty years, and she is a fourth-generation artist. While there's nothing groundbreaking here, there is opportunity for both learning and whimsy. The backmatter includes instructions on collaging-a meaningful and fun activity that builds upon the text. Endpapers with realistic labeled images of leaves provide an injection of information in this otherwise dreamy musing. A nod to winter and spring make this a year-round read. Collaged leaves against painted illustrations encourage play and imagination. A leafy parade to celebrate our favorite time of year.' Rhyme rules the text but isn't forced in the least. Could a leaf from a tree become a hat, a Halloween mask, a hammock, or something else entirely? 'It could be a horn that blows, announcing that we're here. The picture book's idyllic setting seems Northeastern in nature, with deciduous trees shedding leaves, which the child scoops up.

3-5)Ī child with brown skin offers gentle, artful ideas about what to do with autumn leaves. A fresh, visually arresting read-aloud with a lovely old-time feel. Recurring elements such as a teapot and a few snails reward young readers who take the time to look closely.

The color-soaked illustrations, in “pen, ink and Macintosh,” are wonderfully whimsical depictions of frivolously curlicued railway stations of yesteryear, ornate trains and eccentric passengers, from bespectacled, broom-bearing soldiers to purple-suited businessmen eating boiled eggs. ”) and even chickens keep the linear story chugging along to its finale, when a caged parrot mimics the train’s sounds and the passengers’ prattle in a lively, rhythmic song. Fun-to-read-aloud sound effects from engines (“Chuff-chuff, chufferty-chuff”), passengers (“Lovely cake, Doris.

?’ ” So begins this charming chronicle of the cacophonous morning departure of an old-fashioned, presumably British train. ’/ and the man in the station office cries, ‘Hurry up! Hurry up! Any more tickets. “Here is the station all noisy and full, / and the station clock goes, ‘Tick-tock, tickerty-tock.

Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood