The weather has turned cooler and the trees have begun to change. A few fall favorites were read. Then, a few new titles were tried. Three new-to-us autumn read alouds which we enjoyed follow.
Earl the Squirrel, by Don Freeman, is a sweet story about a young squirrel learning how to gather his own acorns. Freeman intertwines a squirrel, human friend, red scarf, and a hunt for acorns in a comical, sweet natured story. The tone and adventures of Earl are reminiscent of Freeman's other works like
Corduroy and
Gregory's Shadow. Our youngest son listened quietly through the first reading, and asked for it to be read several times before we returned it to the library.
Another Don Freeman autumn title is
One More Acorn. Part of this book was initially written in 1963. However, Freeman set it aside after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and never finished the work. Instead, his son, Roy Freeman, completed the story of Earl and his family. Earl, a squirrel, and his family live in Washington, D.C. It is autumn and Earl is searching for acorns. There is one in particular that he remembers hiding, but he just can't find it. The story follows Earl on an adventurous search for the acorn and his return home. It is a sweet story that we enjoyed greatly. {
On a side note, it kept bothering me if this was to be the same Earl as Earl the Squirrel, or just another squirrel named Earl. The children were not bothered by the same name though.}
Another autumn title we read was
Pumpkin Town! by Katie McKy. It is a humorous story about a family who grows pumpkins. Each year, at harvest time, they save the best pumpkins and dig out their seeds. The rest of the crop is sold. This particular autumn, the boys take a bunch of 'bad' seeds and toss them off a hill. They scatter onto the village below. All winter they lie dormant, until the rains and sunshine of spring cause them to grow. The village explodes with pumpkin vine everywhere. The subsquential events had us laughing through the rest of the book.
