In some ways, I’ve always thought books about seasons were a little funny. I live in south Texas, after all, and seasons down here don’t look much like the ones I see in picture books.
Nevertheless, I like for my kids to see what seasons look like in much of the rest of the country. Here are some fun books about seasons that we have enjoyed. I love books that look at things from a different angle, and these are no exception.
Squirrel Round and Round: A Bilingual Book of Seasons by Belle Yang–I’ve really enjoyed the beautiful simplicity of all the board books in this series. Each set of pages contains an imagery-rich statement about a season accompanied by simple, vivid illustrations of nature (e.g. “Yellow leaves flutter, and seeds fly”). Each phrase is written in English and Chinese. This book, and others in the series, are perfect for toddlers.
Shakespeare’s Seasons by Miriam Weiner–Shakespeare doesn’t seem intimidating in the short excerpts included in this book. In fact, your kids may be left wanting more! The cut-paper illustrations are fascinating and go so well with these Shakespearian snippets about the seasons.
Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman is full of short poems about how the colors appear in each season. Pamela Zagarenski’s beautiful illustrations really bring this book to life in this Caldecott Honor Book.
Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems by Paul B. Janeczko–I enjoy many of the short poems in this book. They are grouped into the four seasons, and they really are short. But what I really love about this book are the illustrations! (Melissa Sweet is a genius).
Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka is a book that makes haiku fun, especially for boys. Each poem is full of the fun boys find in nature during each season.
The Year at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen–This is probably my favorite book of seasons. It follows a calendar year on Maple Hill Farm, simply describing one or two things that are happening on the farm during that month and season. Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm is another favorite of ours.
What are your favorite books about seasons?
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Hi Carolyn! I so enjoy your blog that I nominated you for the Liebster award. You can find out more about the Liebster here. http://www.foreverjoyful.net/?p=714. The top two things I admire about your blog is your content and graphics. Keep up the good work. I’m always getting great reading ideas from you.
Oh, wow, Leslie, thanks so much! That’s really sweet of you. 🙂
Hi, I love your review of books and so glad you shared at Literacy Musing Mondays this week. 😉
Thanks, Mary! December was so busy that I hadn’t dropped by in a while. Back to my regular schedule 🙂
We love The Year on Maple Hill Farm too! And we have the same issue with seasons! We have rainy and dry seasons here in Malaysia and they aren’t even that different from each other! I do think it’s good for my kids to learn about seasons in temperate climates too.
Thanks so much for sharing this list at Booknificent Thursday on Mommynificent.com!
Tina
It’s funny how there aren’t any season book that take into account how very different seasons really are in different places! Thanks for the chance to link up 🙂
These look really good! Living in South Florida, we don’t really get seasons – just hot and not so hot. Ha! But I’m definitely going to check out that Shakespeare one, and the one for boys. 🙂 Thanks for sharing these! #MMBH
Yes! We don’t really get seasons here in Texas either 😉 For us it’s an education to learn most other places have them!