We're Going on a Leaf Hunt

by Steve Metzger, Miki Sakamoto (Illustrator)

Join three friends on a fun leaf-finding adventure! This bouncy new version of the popular song begs to be read out loud. There are lots of beautiful fall leaves to find! Three friends have a big adventure hiking over a mountain and through a forest to collect leaves of all kinds and colors. What will they do with all their leaves at the end of the story? Jump and play in them, of course!With easy rhyming text and fun sound effects, children will delight in this rollicking autumn story.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Storytime, Nature, Science, School, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2008

About the author

I grew up in Queens, NY in the 1950s with my “baby” sister, Lois. She is now a wonderful writer of young adult novels and nonfiction. My mother was born in Vienna, Austria, and my father came from Brooklyn – an interesting match! My best friends were Neil, Robbie, Krebs, and Paul. I’m still good friends with most of these guys. It was less hectic in those days – no computers, no emails, fewer TV channels (MANY fewer!) We had lots of fun playing ball and listening to records. I’ll never forget when the Beatles came to America – Beatlemania!
After graduating from Baruch College in NYC, I didn’t know what to do with my life. I bounced around doing odd jobs, including taxi driver, dishwasher, and hotel desk clerk. One day, while relaxing in Central Park (OK, I was unemployed), I saw a group of children from a local daycare center. It struck me that I always liked children -- perhaps I could make a career out of something I liked. Eureka! Ever since then, I’ve been involved, in one way or another, with the lives of young children.

I received my Masters in Education from Bank Street College and taught preschool kids for a bunch of years. I loved the childrens' innocence and vivid imaginations. After moving into school administration for a few years, I began working at Scholastic, where I have been ever since.

At Scholastic, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to write children’s books. The first book that I wrote was "The Dinofours: I’m Super Dino!" Twenty-seven other Dinofours’ books followed. I hope my respect and appreciation for young children shines through in my stories.

Nowadays, I’m lucky to be married to my beautiful and talented wife, Nancy (she’s also a writer). In 1998, we were blessed with a terrific daughter, Julia, who helps criticize my story ideas and lets me play with her once in a while.

And furthermore…any recollections of my life would not be complete without mentioning my grandmother, Mutti. She was an ever present source of love, appreciation, and wisdom.

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Honestly, I'm reviewing this book more because it's been a long LONG time since I've legitimately been on goodreads than because I thought the book was worth reviewing. Call me a lame book reviewer if you will, but it's the truth.

I read it to my daughters last night and thought it was good enough. Three multi-cultural children look for leaves. They find some. There day was wonderful and exciting.

I realize I have a condescending tone with this, and it's sad because my girls love to bring me leaves when we sit outside. They'll go out to the grass, pick one up and bring it to me. I'll have quite the pile before we go back inside. Maybe leaf hunts are exciting, but maybe everything is exciting when you're two/three.

As for me, I'm excited to have written a crappy review on goodreads.

[Molly Toomey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three friends go on a leaf hunt. They see different types of trees, go over a little stream, climb hills, go through a forest, go through a field, and take a row boat across the lake. The book can be set to a tune that gets kids engaged in the book. This would be a good book to read before introducing different aspects of nature, as well as friendship. The colors in the book are great for summer and fall.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A play off 'going on a bear hunt'. Three kids go in search of different, colorful leaves!
Each leaf looks different, and the tree they're from is named.
The kids stumble on a skunk and race home, having had an amazing day.

[Carol Farrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is similar to We’re going on a bear hunt except looking for leaves. Many obstacles come up to go up, through, around and across while searching for the leaves. There are fun sound effects and actions could easily be added while reading to make it even more interactive. It’s a perfect book to accompany any fall activity.

[Jessica Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interest Level Grade Kindergarten
Grade Level Equivalent Not available
Genre Rhyming Story
Reading motivation program Scholastic Reading Counts , Accelerated Reader
Free Resources No

This book takes a new approach to the traditional we are going on a bear hunt. Children get introduced tothe different type of leaves and trees that you may see in our local parks. This would be great to pair with a leaf hunt activity or a activity where children are doing leaf pressings.

[The Library Mouse Tales · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun picture book for young nature loving children.

Based on the well-known song, instead of going on a bear hunt, the three friends in this book are going on an adventure to find lots of different beautiful Autumn leaves.

The book teaches young children different colours and types of trees. There are nice, bright illustrations which help you identify the leaves and show all the lovely Autumn colours. It is written in rhyming text that is great for reading aloud and singing together.

The book is aimed at young children (2-5 years) but the paper is not very strong. You need to be careful or the pages could be torn.

One other small problem is that the spellings, types of tree and a skunk show that is has been written for American readers. My little brother likes to act out stories like this. We wanted to go on our own leaf hunt but hickory trees aren’t common in the U.K so we will need to miss that one out. I’m sure that he will still enjoy looking for some of the other leaves and we won’t need to worry about bumping into any skunks!

[Madeline Conzett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see why this book was recommended as a good ELL resource. It's easy to read, short, incorporates easy rhyming sounds and useful yet easy words. This definitely is for the kindergarten or first grade level. I'm not sure why it has so many negative reviews, I thought it was great! It was a great, cute short story that ties into the fall. For an ELL student, this book would be great to introduce them to the fall and terms or words they might hear around fall time. With repetition and rhyming sounds, this book will flow easily.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute autumn-themed version of "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" in which a diverse group of children set out to find colorful fall leaves. There's nothing scientific here (aside from naming a few trees and showing their leaves: maple, birch, hickory, red oak) just a fun little autumn trek that many children will likely enjoy and, one hopes, wish to emulate. Judging by the number of holds on this title, it remains very popular some fifteen years after publication. My children enjoyed it, but no requests for re-reads.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining book about the leaves changing in the fall. It's a play on the classic children's song We're Going on a Bear Hunt, with fun, rhyming lyrics.

The book features colorful, cartoonish illustrations, diverse children, and just a short clip of the lyrics on each page. With big, two-page illustrations, it would be great to read this book aloud with a group.

[Olivia Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is perfect for ELL students because not only is it engaging but the concept is cute. I think in a read aloud in class, you could start a variety of different discussion about both friendships and the seasons changing and the activities that come with it. I liked how this book used three different friends to go looking for leaves and also tied in a lot f other nature aspects like mountains.

[Spencer Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fun and can be very interactive with the students in your classroom. I like it because there are a number of things to connect to it such as sequencing parts of the story, introduce the topic of fall and changing of seasons, etc. Mrs. Grabill even read this to her class while I was observing and had them sequence the story. This book is contemporary realistic and in the K-1st grade range

[Ali Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the adding of three multicultural children going on adventures together to find the different types of leaves and the way they were able to find solutions to get the to end. The book had spots that the kids could get up and pretend they are there and having to do it, like quietly going through the forest, rowing through the lake, running fast from the skunk which is perfect for participation and getting some energy out while learning a little bit about nature.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok - a same-old familiar storyline with kind illustrations.

A minor nit that some illustrations show children rowing a row boat (with two oars) while facing forward. I understand the illustrator could have chosen them to face forward to not confuse children; however, if that was a valid concern they could have just drawn a single paddle per child instead of two oars (and left the children facing forward).

[Sarah Kaiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story about some children who are going on a leaf hunt to collect various leaves. Throughout the story, they encounter several different types and colors of leaves, which could easily be used in a science lesson. This book also follows the format of the story "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" only applied to hunting leaves. So, from this aspect, it is a very entertaining and engaging story. It is definitely a story that I would like to have in my own classroom someday.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just read this today. It’s cute. My only real quibble is that the author was probably familiar with the We’re going on Bear Hunt book and not the song, so there aren’t the sing-along parts in it which really carry that one. My 4-year old did like it but again not as much as the Bear Hunt one. Nice to see a little introduction to trees and the diversity of the little characters.

[Shaquira DesDune · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simple, yet cute book to introduce the concept of Fall to young children. This book can be used in many engaging Fall activities for children. The colors of Fall are all throughout this book. As a future educator I believe this book will help to engage and teach children about one of my favorite seasons.

[Saylah Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is appropriate for children ages 5-7. I think this story would be great for an interactive read aloud in the classroom. As an activity to enhance the lesson/read aloud, the students can go on a nature walk around their school or community with their teacher. They can make observations about the leaves they see and find.

[Darby Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book! It is a great book to read in the fall season to younger aged children. The illustrations are great and it really depicts the true essence of fall. The children in the story go on this adventure outdoors, and it is a great read aloud book for children. Definitely recommend!

[Samarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry
K-1st

I loved this fun little book of rhythms and onomatopoeias! It was honestly such a fun read. I loved the illustrations. They were so nicely done and entertaining. The illustrator did an amazing job. I believe that this would be such a fun read aloud that students could act out as I read. In the end this is definitely a book I want to add to my book shelf once I am a teacher.

[Alex]

My students loved reading this book in the fall. It is a great book with telling details to help students imagine what they would see, smell, and hear if we were to go out into the forest on a leaf hunt. This book also is a great opener to taking a leaf hunt/ nature walk to explore and collect artifacts to create a leaf man. This is a great resource for our five senses unit in first grade.

[Ketutar Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well... the idea is good, and the illustrations are nice, but the story is a bit stupid. Now, I don't know how I would see it, if I was a kid. I wanted to go to a leaf hunt, and hunt leaves from all the trees around here, but... climbing mountains and rowing over lakes is a bit much for a day trip for little kids.

[Steph || Dharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful take on the children's song "We're Going on a Bear Hunt". The children in this story go on a leaf hunt to search for colorful leaves. The story follows the general structure of "We're Going on a Bear Hunt". It also mentions the names of a few different kinds of trees. This would be a fun story to read before going on your very own leaf hunt.

[Rebekah Waggoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry
K-1st

I loved this fun little book of rhythms and onomatopoeias! It was honestly such a fun read. I loved the illustrations. They were so nicely done and entertaining. The illustrator did an amazing job. I believe that this would be such a fun read aloud that students could act out as I read. In the end this is definitely a book I want to add to my book shelf once I am a teacher.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bright Fall colors in this book were great and I loved how the book taught a lot about different types of trees and their corresponding leaves. The story was minimal but the repetition and style was very appropriate for young readers. I wish they had stuck closer to the natural song that this story is derived from though.

[Kali Hilliard · Rating 5 out of 5]

K-3; contemporary realistic; I love the fact this book can be read with a tune! The beautiful rhythm that flows through this story really kept me engaged and I had a lot of fun reading it! I definitely recommend reading it to a classroom of students or just your own children!

[Hailey Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: poetry
Reading Level: lower elementary

This book is another good one to read if you enjoy rhyme and rhythm. You might even be able to make a riddle and motions out of it for your students to enjoy!

[Dzana · Rating 3 out of 5]

We're going on a leaf hunt is about three friends that go on an adventure to find some colorful leaves. This book is great to introduce children to different surroundings in the environment, and also colors. You can also use this book as a lesson for example, the teacher can take the class outside and go for a leaf hunt and collect as much as leaves they can big or small and colorful ones.

[Cara Frazee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade: Preschool-1
Contemporary Realistic

This creative spin of "We're going on a bear hunt" will have kids smiling and enjoying themselves as they repeat the words and do the motions that can be created to match what is happening in the story.

[Sandy]

It has to be inspired by We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Seasonally appropriate but, the book is a little less fun than the original hunt.

[Nadina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's average over all, which doesn't mean I wouldn't use it for a story time. It had decent pace and rhythm. I guess I wasn't a huge fan of the story as a whole or the artwork, but it was decent, average.