Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!

by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Join Mama and Buddy Bear’s stroll through the seasons as they examine the development of leaves on their favorite trees. In early spring, Buddy wonders when the leaves will emerge from their buds and blossom into the wonderful shapes he and Mama like to collect in the summer months. Mama, a treasure trove of tree facts, shares Buddy’s love of leaves and encourages him to use his eyes and hands to explore how a tree produces, maintains, and then sheds its foliage. With a wealth of information tucked into an engaging story, this informational picture book is a perfect pick for classroom investigations or story time.

Genres: Picture Books, Science, Nature, Childrens, School, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Nancy Elizabeth Wallace attended the University of Connecticut, and majored in sociology and psychology with a minor in art history, then continued on for a master’s degree in child development.

For many years, she worked at Yale-New Haven Hospital with children and teenagers as Child Life Specialist helping children to understand what was going to happen if they needed to have a medical test or an operation or a cast.

Then she took two adult education courses, one was about traditional Scherenschnitt (share- en -sssh -nit) scherren means scissors, schnitt means cut. The other was about writing and illustrating children’s books. When she brought in a
cut-paper illustration, the teacher said, “You’ve found your medium!”

Nancy is married to Peter Banks. They have been married for more than 30 years. He is a high school Physics teacher.

They live in Branford, Connecticut.

Reviews

[April · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay so as a mom sometimes you are in the library and you’re just grabbing books off the Fall Display in the children’s section. When your baby is little more than a gurgley potato it doesn’t matter what you’re reading to him really. But this book is so bad. It’s barely a story! Weird felt bears go on a walk once every season. The mom explains what the leaves are doing at each time of year in a Wall of Text, then the “Buddy Bear” makes some joke about being hungry so they can have a picnic and tells a bad tree pun before you turn the page and are in another season. Never before have four seasons seemed like too many. C was beating the book in impatience and I almost wanted to encourage him to tear the pages out. Sorry this is a bit dramatic. Not everything can be Klassen.

[Christina Mallory]

Text-to-World Connection
This book is an amazing depiction of how leaves are grown throughout all four seasons. Depending on what time of year it is the leaves are always forming and ready to blossom. I enjoyed how this book was written and illustrated for a small child to understand in a way that they could relate. This book is a very good book to introduce to a child about how leaves are grown regardless of what season it is because all seasons are covered throughout the book.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read a book to my boys in homeschool about the leaves falling off for fall and why that happens. I found this book at the library and it was perfect. I thought the illustrations really helped to simplify the scientific explanation of the different seasons of a tree. The book is about a boy bear and his mama bear who take walks to the park and look at the changing trees. The mother bear explains why and how the tree is changing.

All in all, I thought this book did a wonderful job explaining photosynthesis in a simplified way that even my kindergartener could understand!

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story fuses nonfiction and fiction with a mama bear and child bear enjoying a year-in-the-life of trees. The nonfiction comes in when the mama bear teaches tree facts to the child bear. Poetry splashes a few pages as well as seasonal snack ideas. Clever fusions of facts, fiction, poetry, and snack ideas.

[Heidi Thelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

INFORMATIONAL: The illustrations-made out of cut paper and felt add so much depth and fun to the story!This book walks readers through the science of photosynthesis and the changing seasons. There are also ideas for simple science projects and craft activities!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This juvenile-fiction picture book presents scientific information about how leaves change during the seasons of the year in an easy-to-read format. The added riddles/jokes add a nice touch of humor to this story as well.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not even going to bring this one in for my fall unit. It might be cute for a kindergarten class but definitely much too wordy for my threes. I doubt I’d get past the first page without their eyes glazing over and more than one kid poking their neighbor. Not for little guys.

[The Campbell Family · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content was great but I HATED the illustrations! So flat (no pun intended here with their medium), blah looking... not fun to look at.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good nonfiction in story form. Lots of information and craft ideas.

[Josephine Burks · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughters picked out this book at the library. They’re very interested in the great outdoors. Perfect book to explain about why leaves are green and why they fall from trees etc.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really gets into science more than most children's books do. I don't like how the bears' eyes look. I like the paper illustrations, especially of the leaves.

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

i prefer fall leaves, those are my most favorite. or spring time. but those make me sneeze??! great illustrations. fun times.

[Cristina Quattrone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legit learned a lot about leaves!

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book much more than I anticipated! This is a fictional story about a mommy bear and a baby bear going on leaf walks. This book contains alot of scientific facts, yet it is designed for younger children to understand. This book would be perfect for K-2nd grade students. This would be a great introduction to teaching the seasons and some of the subtle characteristics about each season. I love the quirky jokes that the baby bear comes up with after he creates an understanding of what his mom has explained to him. This book has nice illustration and could help introduce to a class how the activity of going on a whole class leaf walk, collecting and categorizing our own leaf findings. I would then have the students keep their leaves and we would go in and do leaf stenciling, and expand of the parts of the leaves! I could use this book in my classroom library for sure!!

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre - fiction

reading level - K-3rd

topic and themes - collecting leaves during the different seasons and learning about leaves

curricula use - can be used to learn about leaves as in a science lesson, read aloud

Social - can be used to teach about seasons

literary elements - personification, imagery,

text and pictures - text and pictures go hand in hand to explain what the mama bear is teaching buddy bear

summary - This is a great story that talks about collecting leaves and the four different seasons. The book could be used as an addition to a science lesson as it goes into details about the characteristics of leaves. It also talks about chlorophyll and carbon dioxide. The book gives a diagram that you could use to teach from and different kinds of leaves that you could talk about.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a science book for young people from K-2 grades. Buddy Bear plays outside in the Spring and Mama takes him on a leaf walk. The leaf walk involves finding leaf buds and learning about how the buds will grow into leaves. There are science tools used in their observations such as a magnifying glass, colored pencils and ziplock bags. During the summer, Mama and Buddy actually collect leaves, observe the difference in leaves, parts of leaves and the trees they are taken from. Buddy and Mama draw pictures of their leaves and trees. Of course the Fall is the best time, when the leaves change color and fall off the tree. Buddy learns how they change color and why the leaves fall off. This is a terrific little book and it became A Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year (Outstanding Merit) and A Society of School Librarians Award Honor Book.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorable book. Ashley introduced this book to me in our fine arts for teachers class. I thought it would be great to share with students during the fall or whenever we are discussing trees and the change in seasons. To add to the lesson, Ashley told us to pass out different leaves to allow the children to see different kinds, shapes,and sizes. I would consider taking the students on a nature walk. She then would have the children trace the leaves and give them materials such as crepe paper and construction paper to make a leaf mosiac. I would also use this book to discuss all the fun activities that can occur outside during each season to encourage students to stay active.

[Miss Ryoko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating: 2.5

This is a very scientific book, which is what I really liked about it. I love introducing science to my students in ways that can be engaging to them. I would have definitely used this if I were still teaching the 4 and 5 year olds and we were doing a unit on leaves. I really liked the big tree diagram at the end.

The only problem is this book is a bit long. If I were to use it, I'd worry the kids would lose interest fast.

Unfortunately, I'm teaching three year olds and I don't think they'd be able to sit through this whole book. But it's a very nice, educational tool for parents and teachers alike.

[Kandice Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mama Bear and Buddy Bear enjoy going on walks throughout every season. As the go on their walks, Buddy Bear notices that the leaves are different as the seasons change. Mama Bear explains to Buddy why the leaves look the way they do.This is a very informative book for children yet it is enjoyable at the same time. It is great for children in a classroom and will help them understand the differences between the seasons.There are two different activities at the end of the book that could be used with this book! This is a wonderful teaching resource!

[Sandybear76]

Good story. It reminds me of the kindergarteners going a leaf walks in the park 2-3 times during the school year. The story is set so that Buddy Bear and his mother take a walk during each of the 4 seasons and look at the leaves. The story is good but a bit scientiifical for the kindergarteners but a bit young for say 4-5th grades. Nancy Eliabeth Wallace has a few books similar to this one - Rocks! Rocks! Rocks! and Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! I do like Buddy Bear.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buddy Bear and his mother go on leaf walks each season and Buddy learns about leaves and how they change.

Collin enjoyed learning about what happens to leaves throughout the different seasons. He is a little young to grasp all of the information but he enjoyed the book and a lot of it registered.

We enjoyed our own leaf walk after reading this book.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buddy Bear and Mama go 'leaf walking' throughout the four seasons, and gather a lot of information about trees and leaves in the process. Factual information is at the back of the book.

Used for "Fall for Pumpkins" Storytime-October, 2009.

[Fidelis · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!" is a story of a little bear and its mother going out seasonally to collect leaves. The story itself is appropriate for the age group but the science explained is very complex and is told in a way that supports a much older group of children.

[TJE · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pictures seem to be for a younger audience, didn't love illustrations (felt characters). Shows many types of leaves at back of book. Text seemed geared toward elementary aged (2nd grade). Didn't finish.

Second time through-similar experience, still not interested. Didn't finish.

[Zonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mama and bear take a leaf walk through every season and learn about how the leaves change during different seasons. Craft and Tree diagram included along with a joke for each season.

[Sarah]

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace (2007)

[Tabitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute little book that describes activities you can do each season to discover the changes in leaves.

[Ashley Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book (and I want it for my classroom)! It is great to talk about why the leaves change color! I would also take my students on a "leaf" walk to look at the leaves each season

[Haifa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book so much

[Brittany N · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book incorporates leaves of all seasons. It can be used to compare and contrast.