The Little Yellow Leaf

Berger, C. (2008). The Little yellow leaf. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Summary:

This book is an exemplar of what a great picture book can be: beautiful and dynamic illustrations coupled with lyrical, descriptive text. The story features a little leaf who is not ready to let go of its tree and make a change, until finding encouragement from a friend. The text itself conveys rich vocabulary, rhythm, and repetition that will engage listeners and the content is well-balanced to include page turns and two-page spreads. “And the sun sank slow” is an interesting page: each word is pictured on a different golden circle, gradually becoming darker in color until “slow” is deep orange and partially below the horizon line.

Curriculum Connections:

This book’s illustrations, a mix of collage and other media, would make an excellent mentor text for an art class studying textures. Students may be invited to notice the ways that bits of text and various papers are used to convey textures.

Personal Reflections:

I was taken with the visual appeal of the multimedia illustrations and the design of the book (slightly taller and skinnier than most picture books). When I took time to examine the accompanying text, it was easy to see why this book is an award-winning picture book.

Awards:

Chickadee Nomination List 2009-2010 (MASL, 2012), New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book 2008 (New York Times Publications, 2012). 

Age/Interest Range:

0-8

Genre/Themes:

Autumn, Change, Seasons

Read-Alikes:

Leaf Man (Ehlert) and Leaves (Stein) are two award-winning picture books for young listeners on the theme of autumn leaves and seasonal change.