As the mother of a preschooler, one thing I’ve noticed is how much small children respond to learning about topics that they can see reflected in their day to day life. Whether it’s seeing a picture of a tuna (eel) or a duck (both creatures we’ve fed on the Avon River), or stories about diggers (of which there are many in Christchurch), or picture books about Christmas at that time of year – little ones really love stories that they can relate to what they see in the world.
Yesterday (21 March) marked the official beginning of autumn in the southern hemisphere and already there are clear signs of summer’s departure that even small folk can make note of – fruit from neighbourhood trees dropping, new warmer pyjamas being bought, some trees already losing their leaves, and the need for rainjackets or gumboots on rainy days. So now’s a great time to comb the library’s bookbins for titles that either explain the change of seasons or reinforce those signs of autumn that younger family members might be noticing.
There are plenty of titles in the library to choose from. Here are just a few to get you started:
Change of Season (Autumn)
Books about the change of seasons and the signs of autumn. A Christchurch City Libraries list.
- Leaves
- The Story Orchestra
- Weather and Seasons
- Autumn
- Little Elliot, Fall Friends
- Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn
- Bella’s Fall Coat
- Hedgehugs
- Autumn
- My Autumn Book
- Fall Leaves
- Seasons
- Counting on Autumn
- Awesome Autumn
- Seasons
- Guess How Much I Love You in the Autumn?
- Leaves
- Fancy Nancy and the Fall Foliage
Find more
- Seasons – children’s non-fiction
- Autumn – children’s fiction
- Autumn – children’s nonfiction
- Selected picture books about Weather and Seasons
- Tāwhirimātea: The seasons – From Te Ara, The encyclopedia of New Zealand
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 
What a beautiful selection of books. I appreciate the way you acknowledge the change of seasons, and, as you say, there are plenty of signs for children to notice. I’ll be celebrating autumn equinox with my family, including granddaughters, this weekend, & it’s good to see the books that are available. My next one will be about celebrating the seasons with children & families, and the writing is already well on the way.
I should have said, as a sequel to my books Celebrating the Southern Seasons and Dancing with the Seasons, both of which you’ll have in your library.
Juliet Batten
http://www.julietbatten.co.nz/product/dancing-seasons-resilience-inspiration-times-change/
That’s excellent Juliet. I’ve made use of Celebrating the Southern Seasons quite a lot. It’s good to hear there is another book on the way. I will keep my eye out for it!