Wonderfall: A Picture Book About Fall, Seasons, and a Tree for Kids

by Michael Hall

This beautiful and informative picture book follows a single tree through the fall season, from the end of summer to winter’s first snowfall. A great read-aloud for home and the classroom by the New York Times–bestselling creator of My Heart Is Like a Zoo and Red: A Crayon’s Story.

Wonderfall follows a single tree through the changing of the seasons. People, animals, and vehicles pass in front of the tree, celebrating holidays, playing in its leaves, and getting ready for winter. Fifteen combined words (thankful + fall = thankFALL, plentiful + fall = plentiFALL) underscore the themes and concepts of the season, while the main attraction—the beautiful tree—drops acorns, loses leaves, and provides food and a home for a pair of scurrying squirrels. Two full spreads at the back of the book offer additional information about the animals featured in the book, as well as the science behind squirrels, acorns, and saplings.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Autumn, Childrens, Animals, Storytime, Nature

40 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2016

About the author

Michael Hall is the author/illustrator of The New York Times bestseller, My Heart Is Like a Zoo, as well as the critically acclaimed Perfect Square, It’s an Orange Aardvark, Red: A Crayon’s Story, and Frankencrayon.

Before becoming a children’s author, Michael was an award-winning graphic designer whose work — including graphic identities for the City of Saint Paul, Macalester College, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the Hennepin County Medical Center — has been widely recognized for its simple and engaging approach.

Michael lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[KC]

I adore this book. With it's charming art work reminiscent of Lois Ehlert and Eric Carle, this tale delights readers with how our world transforms from summer to fall. A truly accurate description for any nature lover.

[Agnė]

4.5 out of 5
What a great celebration of fall! Wonderfall definitely lives up to its title :)

Each double-page spread introduces a fall-related blended word accompanied by beautiFALL artwork (I LOVE the colors and the textures, and all the animals!) and a playFALL poem:


Such mini-episodes work together extremely well to capture the spirit and progression of fall. And the twist at the end is simply perfect! Plus, I really liked the final pages with interesting information on the way different animals, birds and trees prepare for the upcoming winter.

[Abigail]

Author/artist Michael Hall offers a poetic picture-book tribute to the beauties of autumn in this lovely collection, presenting fifteen short poems, each inspired by a particular portmanteau word, from 'peacefall' to 'watchfall.' A brief afterword gives more information about fall, and the coming of winter, from the perspective of the tree who provides shelter for the squirrels...

As someone who loves pretty much everything about autumn, from the colors to the seasonal celebrations, someone who also enjoys a good portmanteau word, I was pretty much guaranteed to enjoy Wonderfall - and I did! The brief poems work very well, both on their own, and as a narrative building toward the culmination of a snowfall, while the vibrantly colorful illustrations capture all the beauty of the season being depicted. Highly recommended, both to fellow fall-lovers, and to those looking for children's books about autumn, and the changing of the seasons.

[Nancy Kotkin]

Text: 5 stars
Illustrations: 5 stars

Lovely picture book that can serve multiple purposes. Use it to discuss seasons, teach science, or enjoy the poetry and word play. Compound words substitute the word "fall" for the suffix "-ful" and serve as the titles for the poems. The seasons progress from late summer through early winter, depicted through both the activities and the illustrations. Useful information on the last three page spreads about all the animals featured in the book as well as squirrels, acorns, and the oak tree that serves as the protagonist.

[June]

Each page topped by a word changed to include fall, followed by a brief description/poem.

Went over well at story time.

[Claudia]

It's books like this treasure by Michael Hall that make me want to take a step back and really evaluate my children's writing. I tend to focus heavily on dense, complex stories when my first love was poetry for children. I am a huge lover of Autumn and Hall's journey from late summer to the first snowfall was bittersweet but wonderfully done. I also thought the animal descriptions at the end of the book were a nice touch.

[Erin]

Fun book about autumn. I appreciate the last few pages that explain the different ways the animals seen throughout the book prepare for winter. However, I do wish more of that information had been integrated into the story instead of just at the end.

[Bethe]

Ode to fall from the point of view of an oak tree, almost like a collection of poetry. Love the end matter, love the art. Be sure to look at the case under the dust jacket. Where was this book a month or 2 ago - need to remember it for next fall.

[Samara O'Gorman]

Picked this up recently to add to my collection of autumn/Halloween children's books. It's full of elegant imagery and the main character might surprise you! Beautiful work!

[Madison LibraryBookFamily]

This book is full of playful poems that showcase the joys of fall. Fall is joyful, frightful, beautiful, etc. A short poem showcasing each ___-full word keeps young readers entertained.

[Tasha]

In a series of poems, this picture book celebrates the changing seasons through the experience of a tree. First in the greenness of summer, the acorns start to fall from the oak tree. The yellow school bus arrives and the tree’s leaves start to change. Harvest time arrives, parades march past, and Halloween comes.The leaves start to fall, Thanksgiving comes and children play in the piles of leaves. Wind arrives, taking most of the leaves off the tree and its time to rake. No leaves left, the tree stands bare until snow comes with the new winter season.

Hall celebrates the autumn season with this picture book that encompasses the very beginning signs of autumn all the way through to full winter. The focus on a single tree as the one experiencing the changes works well, particularly with the vivid changes that the tree goes through itself. It is also interesting to see trees as witnessing what humans do just as they watch the activities of the squirrels on the ground and in their branches. The book ends with information on animals seen in the book and how they prepare for winter.

The illustrations are signature Hall with bold shapes done in collage. The leaves are oversized and glorious, full of bold colors and the size of branches. They enliven the page no matter their color, making the winter pages when they are gone all the more cold and barren.

Simple and poetic, this is a great new pick for fall story times and units. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

[Michele Knott]

Perfect book to read for the fall! Enjoyed seeing all of the words with -ful that Hall changed into -fall. Autumn poems are a delight to read.

[Danielle]

I love the illustrations

[Kylie]

Summary
Two gray squirrels tell the story on the great adventures, traditions and changes of fall. Fall can mean holidays, back to school, leaves falling, harvesting, foods and more. Wonderfall connects the activities from the season with the different feelings that fall will give us. This book may even give you a new idea of what fall means to you! The end of the book also has some fun facts about fall critters and how gray squirrels live during fall and prepare for winter.

Activity
SuccessFALL

The activity will begin with a tree trunk with branches, no leaves. We will add leaves to the tree, but on each leaf we will write things we want to accomplish this fall to make a great start to the year. This can be goals for school, home, personal, friendships, activities, anything. Once completed we will talk about ways we want to be SucessFALL in this classroom, what we want to learn, what we are going to accomplish and how we will have fun doing it all.

Citation
Hall, M. (2016). WonderFALL. New York, NY. HarperCollins Publishers.

[Martha]

Wonderfall is chock full of information even though each page has only one blended word followed by a couple of lyrical sentences describing the word. "Wistfall... Good-bye geese. I'm sad to see you go." Told from the point of view of the oak tree, we learn how animals live, supported by the nuts, leaves, branches, etc of the tree. In the back of the book there are ta few comprehensive pages about "Getting ready for winter" and, "Gray squirrels and acorns," and, "What about me?" (the oak tree), kids will learn and understand important primary grades as they study the seasons, and the animals that live around us such as foxes, owls, raccoons, geese, bats, squirrels, etc. The attractive collage looking pictures, actually depicted in acrylic paint and soft pastels are refreshing and handsomely depicted.

[Krystal Shoop-Hardin]

This is an imaginative story on the season of Fall. The illustrations are done in a geometric like style. Each page has it's own text written in a poetry like style. Besides following the tree through the seasons into Fall, the author makes use of 15 blended words: dutifall, plentifall, beautifall, etc... using the word Fall. This story is informative as well as engaging to it's audience. I would use it in the classroom to teach seasons, phonics, colors, shapes, animals, and plants. I think it might appeal to boys in general, just the way that the illustrations are conveyed, but I would still use it for both boys and girls.

[Kelsey Frost]

Love how this story is written in verse and it uses the word "fall" on each of the pages to describe how the tree transitions from fall tree to the beginning of winter. Great book for prediction work. My students quickly picked up on the idea that the words would end with "fall" and tried to predict what it would say using clues from the book. They also enjoyed the non-fiction facts in the back of the book, we searched to see if the squirrels were looking for their acorns they had misplaced.

[Vivian]

Enjoy the season from the tree's point of view.
Each double-page spread captures an aspect of the season in a column of verse and often some onomatopoeia (sound words). I mentally applauded with each choice of "full" words selected to become "fall" words. PeaceFALL, DutiFALL, PlentiFALL, BeautiFALL, and so forth.
At the end of the book there are informative pages about animals featured in the illustrations "getting ready for winter" and finally more about the deciduous tree.

[Jason]

Sometimes I wonder if Michael Hall puts a bunch of things in a hat, shakes it around, and then writes a book about it. We've got seasons, we've got animals, we've got poetry, we've got wordplay, we've got story, we've got facts... there are a LOT of ways you could use this book in an educational setting. My issue could be a nitpicky one, but I feel like the wordplay feels more forced than clever at times. Contrast it to Cat Tale, which is Hall's clever whimsy at its best.

[Grace Coy]

Wonderfall is a picture book about a tree’s life during the season of fall. It includes several poems, each titled with a word in the following format: _____fall. It would be fun to read this book with my class throughout fall while the leaves are changing. Then, the students can see how this story directly reflects the season they are experiencing. Also, I am sure students participate in many of the fall activities mentioned in the story making it relatable to them.

[Meredith]

Different creative word combinations celebrate the season autumn.

The author creates 15 words using the word fall, followed by a short description, to describe different natural phenomena, holidays, and cultural practices associated with the season autumn. Each features an illustration set against the backdrop of the same oak tree.

The illustrations were done digitally using textures from acrylic paint and soft pastels.

[Amy Oberts]

"Wonderfall" is a departure from Michael Hall's other works, as it is a collection of poetry. The wordplay is clever, and the bright, primary-colored illustrations will likely captivate young readers. The inclusion of nonfiction information at the end of the book is unexpected and could be utilized by teachers to introduce changes in seasons.

[Meredith]

Probably about 3 1/2 stars since I liked this book but it is not one of my favorites by the author. Love that the story is from the tree's perspective. Simple illustrations that would be great for asking additional questions as you read with a younger child. Nice nonfiction notes at the end which I would encourage the adult to read before to add in during the reading.

[Janet]

Good title taking one from the end of summer with green leaves and the text and tree illustrations take us to the beginning of winter with no leaves on the tree. The text is a very easily understood poem for each double page spread the poem titles all end in fall, Peacefall, Plentifall, Frightfall, and the final one Snowfall. Delightful creative title.

[Jennifer Kelley]

I enjoyed reading this book for a fall storytime. Love the clear bright illustrations.
The pictures of different animals were a delight to the children, including the young toddler whose comment was "we shoot them". Obviously a hunting family!

[Viviane Elbee]

This book is a collection of poems showing the fall season from the point of view of a tree.

Colorful, charming illustrations.

My kids liked the play on words.

For older preschoolers and young elementary students. It may be a tad long for young toddlers, but they may enjoy the pictures.

[Andrea Bearden]

Even as an adult, I love this! I love the play on words, the colors, the illustrations. The whole book is enjoyable and pleasing to the eyes. It also includes some educational information in the back of the book.

[Jes Trudel]

I love how the author plays with blending words in the story. A simple concept, and it works. The illustrations are colourful and really fill up the page, helping young readers follow along while older kids read the words.

[Sally]

Hall presents the wonders and events of the season of fall in a unique poetry story from the point of view of the oak tree.
Back matter discusses a number of creatures "getting ready for winter", Gray squirrels and acorns, and "What about me" - [he doesn't mean the Michael Hall me...]

[Josh Campeau]

I enjoyed that this takes you through fall from the start of the season to the end and that there are some animal facts in the back matter. A perfect read-aloud for kids ages 2-5, could even skew a bit older with the backmatter.