Counting on Nature

Count Down to Fall
by Fran Hawk

illustrated by Sherry Neidigh

Sylvan Dell, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

This is a GORGEOUS book. You can go on a fall nature walk without leaving the comfort of your home or classroom when you read this book.

It's also a counting book that counts backward from ten to one. It's a poetry book with a rhyming verse on each double page spread. It's a celebration of autumn in the woods. Most of all, it's a tree identification book. Each double page spread is framed around the edge with a different tree's bark, and in the four outer corners is the leaf in summer, the leaf in fall, the shape of the tree and either the seed or the flower of the tree. Here's an example:

Eight beech tree leaves,

like yellow cat's eyes

float gently down

through autumn skies.

Along with the trees, each picture contains animals, birds, and insects that live in the Eastern Woodlands. In the back matter of the book is more information about the trees and the ways that people and animals use them.

Check out this link on the Sylvan Dell website for teaching activities, a book trailer, and an interview with the author.

One Wolf Howls

by Scotti Cohn

illustrated by Susan Detweiler

Sylvan Dell, 2009

review copy provided by the publisher

This book is a counting, rhyming, month-by-month wolf book. In January there is a lone wolf howling at the moon. After pups are born, there are six wolves in June, and by December, there are twelve wolves singing together in the winter night.

The back matter of this book gives readers more information and activities that will extend their learning about wolves, and again, the Sylvan Dell website has still more goodies to go with the book.

Both books invite readers to both browse and read with the fun mix of genres and the beautiful illustrations.