Lonely Little Leaf by Jennifer Prus

Lonely Little Leaf, written and illustrated by Jennifer Prus, is a fun, rhyming, read-aloud-book for young children.  This type of rhyming book is exactly the kind of book that I love to read to children.  The illustrations are so simple and natural to children they will surely want to try their hand and duplicate them

The story is about “a lonely little leaf as sad as can be.”  It wants to come down from the old oak tree to play and dance with the other leaves and forest creatures.  In the story beginning, the lonely little leaf is green and firmly attached to the oak tree.  It can’t shake loose, much as it wants to.  However, as the story progresses through time, the leaf begins to change color.  At the end of the story, it will be free to follow the other leaves in dancing and rustling about, lonely no more.

This is a great story to explain to new readers how life changes.  Just as children change as they grow, so do leaves change with the seasons.  They are new buds in the spring, spend summer as green leaves, and change to shades of gold, red, orange, brown and then fall in late autumn.  This book is also perfect for cross-curriculum lessons:  learning to read with repetition and rhyme; art with the different colors the leaf changes to; and weather and science to explain how leaves change color and fall down each season. 

I know parents and teachers will enjoy reading Lonely Little Leaf to their children.  The rhyming and refrain will help young children chant aloud and follow along.  Thank you, Jennifer Prus, for this lovely, entertaining and fun book to read aloud at home and at school.

Available from Guardian Angel Publishing