Jump In The Leaf Pile by Kelly Green

Today's read should inspire the youngest readers out there to head outdoors and stomp through the leaves.

One of my favorite activities during Fall has always been leaf pile diving. Yep, I still do it today if I take the chance to rake the leaves. Sometimes, my husband does it...which means I miss the pile. My kids won't rake, which is fine. And I'll rake if I see a reason to. Sounds strange? With a house located right on the edge of a forest, leaf raking becomes a bit of a ridiculous effort and only happens when winds and weather build too thick a coat on lawn areas. Which doesn't always happen. This year seems to be a rake-free year for us (yay!).

Anyway, off to leaf piles and color fun!

JUMP IN THE LEAF PILE

by Kelly Green

Illustrated by Kasia Nowowiejska

Little Simon

12 pages

ages 2 to 5

Celebrate the fall season with this adorable board book filled with sliding tab surprises that gives little fingers a tactile experience!

Rake up the leaf pile, scrape scrape trap
Jump in the leaf pile, crinkle crinkle snap

Rake, run, dance, play, and jump in the leaves. The sturdy board tabs slide in and out of this interactive book that pairs first concepts with autumn’s vibrant colors.

GOODREADS   /   AMAZON     /    B&N

MY TIDBITS

The fun of jumping into leaves meets color identification in a cute read with a little added fun.

This board book is pretty sturdy with rounded edges to make it suited for smaller hands. The illustrations are bright and bold, showcasing Autumn scenes with joyful and diverse characters. Energetic vibes come from each page as well as hints of friendship and enjoyment outdoors. Add the cute animals and little details in the background, and it's warming to flip through and enjoy each one.

Each spread has a playful phrase with sound words to inspire readers to 'read along' after a few visits and add to the fun. These are easy to understand and work well for the age group. Then, there's a question, where readers are to try to find objects of a mentioned color, all in the Fall direction. These could be many things located everywhere in the illustrations, which adds to the searching excitement and gives even multiple readers a chance to point something out. 

Lastly, there's a sentence, asking readers to make a motion with the page (book) which will send out an illustrated leaf pile from the edge of the book. This matches the mentioned color. These are created with a thicker cardboard, which slides out from a space between the pages with a little shaking. These are not visible with a tab but are tucked away and only come out with some shaking. It's a super cute idea and adds a new dimension to the leaf fun. Unfortunately, one shake means the leaves from all pages peek out, but that's not really a problem either. It just means a little more shaking.

We've had to read it a few times because it's a quick, easy book and does put a smile on the face.