Clifford's First Autumn

Clifford the Big Red Dog

by Norman Bridwell (Illustrator)

Clifford the Small Red Puppy leaps into autumn when he experiences the changing of the seasons for the first time, and he joyfully sniffs the falling leaves and enjoys the wonderful colors. Original.

Genres: Picture Books, Autumn, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Dogs, Storytime

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Norman Bridwell was an American author and cartoonist, best-known for the Clifford the Big Red Dog series of children's books. Bridwell attended John Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. He lived on Martha's Vineyard, MA, where he wrote an average of two books a year.

Reviews

[Lizzie S]

Cute!!

[Loraine]

Clifford's first autumn as a puppy recalls all his adventures and things he learned about fall. This book would be great to introduce a young child to things about fall. It is also a good book for first graders to read independently.

[Beth]

All the characters have all black eyes and they look super creepy. It is too distracting. The only time their eyes look normal is when someone is surprised. I don’t know if they had a guest artist or something but in the other Clifford books it is not like this.

[Adam]

(read aloud by himself at 5yo, no words missed)

[Linda Klager]

A cute book for children. Thank you Goodreads for the free giveaway.

[Amara]

Much better than Clifford's Thanksgiving. This managed to encompass the joys and wonders of fall, football, leaves, and pumpkins.

[Brooke Thomas]

Clifford books are excellent to use in the classroom because they are very fun and interactive books! Emily Elizabeth tells the story of Clifford’s first autumn as they go on an adventure together. She explains the change in scenery, smells, and feels of autumn from summer. She also talks about changes of clothes and activities that people participate in. This is a great book because Clifford’s curiosity and excitement could easily be utilized to spark curiosity and excitement in the students while learning about seasons. This would be a great book for the beginning of the school year when it starts to get colder outside. I love this book because it talks about what things you should wear in the fall! This is super helpful to children, especially when they are fresh off of summer break. The only negative would be just that children might have already outgrown Clifford books by the time they come to school!

[Kayla Angeletti]

This was a nice too book to read and to be able to see how Clifford reacts to the fall time! The sentences in this book were short and sweet, and the illustrations in this book were very fall like and beautiful. The author talked about how Fall was so new to Clifford as he discovered many things throughout the book. Some things that Clifford found out includes smoke coming from his nose when he breathes, he never saw pumpkins before, nor has he ever seen leaves before! He was so excited for it all, he even started enjoying the weather and "played" football with some kids in the park. This book made me excited for the cool weather! I would recommend reading this book to your kids around fall time!

[Michael]

Clifford's First Autumn is one of Norman Bridwell's classic books about Clifford the Big Red dog in his young puppy days. Clifford never experiencing the autumn season before he was trying to see and understand why it is so different than the other seasons. I feel though this book fell kind of short and was somewhat boring while reading. I think children though would like it because because eventually as it eludes to in the end of the book that Clifford will eventually turn into a big red dog.

[Lillianna Bliss]

2.5 ★ - (it was alright)

{Reviewed 11/2/25} ❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

I don't remember much about this one except that Halloween was a focus and I wish it wasn't included for once. *sigh*

❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Recommended for... n/a

***Content Warnings, or things that caught my attention: Halloween.

All thoughts are my own!

[Kurt Fox]

It's a money grab.

I read this to a bunch (~20 kids) of kindergarten and grade 1 kids who knew who Clifford was. They were excited. After reading it, when asked if they liked it, nobody raised their hands. It was boring to them (and me).

[Diana]

I can't help it. I really like the Clifford books. And "first" books are great, since they let all us old people see things new again. I enjoyed this one, and the kids did, too.

[Melinda Christensen]

I've always loved the Clifford stories and this little Clifford and his high jinks is no exception.

[Danielle Williams]

Funny

[Tiffani Erickson]

I read this to my 2 month old son, because this is his first fall.

[Little Champs]

2973

[Sarah]

Baby Clifford explores the neighborhood park during his first autumn.

[Julianna]

One of my favores

[Christy Roberts]

This was given to me for my nephew to have. I read it cause it's Clifford. He experiences his first autumn finding how things have changed from the summer.

It was cute and a fun read.

[Gena Lott]

Clifford is always a favorite with the smallest children.

[Lynn Davidson]

When Clifford was a small puppy Emily Elizabeth took him outside to experience autumn. He enjoyed the colourful leaves and even joined in on a game of football. Cute story and illustrations.

[Cerita]

This book would be an enjoyable one to read to talk about the fall season approaching. The illustrations are nice and the story is fun and commical. Children who love Clifford stories would really like this one.



Extension Activity: We would discuss fall and the changes of our environment while we are outside. The children would be allowed to collect the different colors of leaves and paste them to construction paper once we get into the classroom.

[Seth Lebaron]

This was the first book I read in the Clifford series. Emily Elizebeth has a cute little puppy who groes up to beg a very big friend. These books are great for emerging reader gain a little confidence when reading. The books slowy introduce harder words than the student may recognize but most of the book is full of everyday words the student should know, and allow them to read the book out loud or to themself with little trouble.

[Victoria]

I just love Clifford. This book talked about his first time experiencing a season change from summer to autumn. This book is an easy read and is easy for young kids to understand. There is not a whole lot of underlying meaning in this particular book. It's just all about Clifford experiencing his first fall. In a sense that could relate to kids every time they start a new grade at school because it's a new classroom, new teacher, and new ideas.

[Angela]

Best for kids ages 2 and up.
Early Literacy Skills: Print Motivation, Vocabulary, Narrative Skills

Clifford is remembering his very first autumn. It was the first time he saw a pumpkin and the first time he jumped in a pile of leaves. Cute as ever, the Clifford series is always a great choice with the colorful illustration and the big red dog that we all grew up with.

[Jenna Arntz]

This was a short story about the Famous big red dog, Clifford. He is a puppy and it is his first Autumn. He has a great time experiencing all the fun that comes along with the season such as, playing football, raking and jumping into a pile of leaves and much more. This would be a great book to read to younger students to help them learn about all of the different seasons.

[Sephire]

This is a cute book from the Clifford series. It is about Cliffords first autumn as a little pup. Emily Elizabeth and Clifford go out and pick out pumpkins and watch kids play football. Clifford does get into a little trouble, but Emily helps him out. Good book.

[Vicki]

Another fun Clifford book that shares information about fall/autumn while Clifford scampers through the book. The preschoolers loved it! This is the 3rd time I've used this book for storytime a classic.

[Katie Morrison]

Clifford's First Autumn is a book I would use for a read aloud to kindergarten or first grade because it is a simple children's book that talks about what it is like in autumn. This book is a fun way for the children to learn about the seasons.

[Rosa Cline]

Emily Elizabeth takes us back when Clifford was a small puppy getting lost among the Fall leaves. All the experiences he first saw his first Fall outside. Changing flowers to pumpkin at the local florist; leaves that crunch and he can hid in etc.