Carole Gerber (1947–2024)

Author/illustrator team Carole Gerber and Leslie Evans pay tribute to the gorgeous leaves of fall in this lovely seasonal picture book. The poetic text in rhymes describes the colors and shapes of the leaves from eight different trees, as well as the fun of jumping in them, while the linoleum block print and watercolor artwork depicts each scene in gorgeous color. The book closes with a brief discussion of why leaves change color in the fall, and labelled depictions of all eight leaves show more mentioned in the main text...

Leaf Jumpers is one of several seasonal picture books from this team, with other titles including Winter Trees and Spring Blossoms. It is only the second book I have reader from Gerber, following upon her subsequent Halloween title, 10 Busy Brooms, and my second from Evans, following upon her Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic, which she illustrated for Steven Schnur. I found it very appealing, with a simple text in rhyme that read well for the most part, and simply beautiful artwork. While there were a few awkward moments in the narrative, they didn't worry me too much, especially as I found the visuals here so strong. I love this kind of block print artwork, which always feels both stylish and folksy. Recommended to picture book audiences looking for fun fall titles, and well as to fellow fans of this illustration style. show less

Ten little witches have an adventure one Halloween night in this cute seasonal counting book. When one witch on a long speedy broom picks up another from a graveyard, it begins a process whereby more and more witches join the flying fun. Eventually, with nine witches on the broom, the party crash lands, meeting a tenth witch who takes them trick-or-treating...

Pairing a simple text in rhyme from author Carole Gerber with cute, colorful artwork from illustrator Michael Fleming, 10 Busy Brooms show more would make an entertaining read-aloud at Halloween time. I initially sought it out because of my interest in witchy picture-books - a perennial pet project of mine - and on that score I found it engaging. I appreciated the decorative endpapers, with their jack-o-lanterns and witches' hats, and I liked the different colors used, for the various different witches. That said, the text itself was sometimes rather awkward, and I don't know that this is one I would seek out again. Still, tastes vary, so I would recommend this one to picture-book readers in the market for fun Halloween fare for the younger set, preschool and below. show less

This vibrant poem celebrates the beauty of autumn while inviting us all to go ahead and jump in that big, colorful, pile of fall leaves. Carole Gerber brings us a wonderful introduction to seasons and science for the earliest of leaf jumpers.

I really enjoyed this poetry book for young children. One of the major reasons I enjoyed the book so much is because it is meant to be read by 2 people. Each poem in the book is clearly split in 2 pieces for 2 different voices. For example,the first voice says, "Do you like my smell?' then the second voice would reply, "It's great! Stupendous! Totally swell!" I like that the author did this because this book can be read by partners or the teacher can read one voice and the class can read the show more other voice. The voices are clearly separated with different colors and placed on opposite sides of the page so that it is easy for readers to follow. The illustrations are another reason I like this book. Each poem has bright and large pictures making it easy for children to see and match to the correct poem. The whole book is based off of poems written about flowers and springtime which would make it very easy to tie into lessons in the classroom. show less