A poetic tribute to winter and fall, Fletcher’s story is sure to resonate with young readers. Kirkus
Fletcher is worried. His favourite tree looks brown and dull and dry. Fletcher is sure his tree is unwell. His mother tells him not to worry - it is autumn. But Fletcher does not understand and as the days and weeks go by his tree looks worse. Standing under the tree a leaf falls off. Fletcher catches the leaf and ties it back on but the leaf falls off again and the next day more and more leaves have fallen. Birds gather them for their nests, squirrels gather them for their nests and even the porcupine takes some. The birds can see how distressed Fletcher has become and so they poke the leaves back onto the branches but the wind picks up again and the next morning all of the leaves are on the ground and the tree has bare branches. Now there is only one leaf left. When this last leaf falls Fletcher takes it home and places it in a tiny bed.
What comes after Autumn - Winter! Fletcher goes outside and his tree is transformed with a thousand icicles. Make sure you touch this last page - Tipanie Beeke has added glitter which makes a beautifully tactile page.
Weston Woods have an animated version of Fletcher and the falling leaves. Sadly we can no longer purchase Weston Woods DVDs here in Australia.
It's Autumn here in Australia and this is my favourite season. I love the colourful leaves and the crunch of them underfoot and the cooler nights, lower humidity and sunny days are wonderful.
Fletcher and the falling leaves was first published in 2006 but it is still available and there is a newer paperback edition. This is one book from the series called Fletcher's Four Seasons:
And a new Fletcher book has just been released. Fletcher and the Caterpillar was published in March 2021 and will be followed by Fletcher and the Rainbow in August 2021, Fletcher and the Rockpool in June 2022 and Fletcher and the Stars in October 2022. Here is the web site for Julia Rawlinson.
The name Tiphanie Beeke intrigued me. She studied in London and lives in the South of France.
I found quite a few video versions on YouTube of Fletcher and the falling leaves. If you are working with teacher education students it might be useful to use these to compare ways of reading a picture book - pausing, pace, page turns, showing the cover, end papers, title page, back cover etc.
My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has a blog post where she shares books filled with Autumn leaves. She also has a Pinterest filled with Autumn books.
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