Here are our favorite autumn nature-based children’s books that will be in our seasonal book basket this fall! We will be using a lot of these books as resources during our nature homeschool lessons and a few of them are old favorites that we pull out every year. This book list is appropriate for a wide age range— Elliot is 4.5 and these books will stay in our rotation for another few years. Autumn for us means apple picking, baking, leaf collecting and mushroom hunting so his list of favorites reflects that. As a family we enjoy books with lyrical and rhythmic storytelling, so you’ll find a lot of that as well. I hope that you find something to add to your collection!
How to Make an Apple Pie by Marjorie Priceman
A charming story about a girl who wants to make an apple pie, but the market is closed. She goes on a journey around the world to collect the ingredients in the places where they are grown (such as, to Italy for the finest semolina wheat). This is a great story for children who enjoy cooking, as it also includes interesting information such as how sugar is made from sugar cane). The illustrations throughout are beautiful and this one is a favorite of ours. There is even a recipe to make an apple pie at the end using the ingredients gathered in the story!
Apples by Jacqueline Farmer
A wonderful non-fiction book about apples that introduces a lot of factual information in a very accessible way for children. It covers a wide range of facts and concepts such as life cycle, fertilization, grafting and harvesting. There’s also a really interesting comparison chart that showcases popular varieties of apples. This book is very text heavy, so I’d say that it is best suited for elementary age and up (although it can definitely be read to younger children). We’re using this book as a resource when we do our apple unit!
Good Morning, Neighbor by Davide Cali and Maria Dek
Mouse seeks out help from his neighbors who each contribute an ingredient to make a cake. Their entourage grows in size as they travel from one neighbor to the next until they have all of the ingredients that they need to bake an apple cake! In the end they must decide how to split the portions amongst themselves in a way that is fair. It’s a wonderful story about collaboration and sharing and would be great for a child who enjoys cooking or baking. The illustrations are whimsical and the story is rhythmic and repetitive, which younger children in particular will really enjoy. Every autumn we go apple picking and study apples, so this story is a favorite during those weeks!
Look What I Did With a Leaf! by Morteza E. Sohi
This is a wonderful book with tons of ideas on how you can use leaves to create animals and other nature scenes. The pages contain large detailed photos and the author gives clear and concise directions on each step such as how to choose and prepare your leaves. There’s also a section in the back of the book that has educational information such as the life cycle of a leaf and an index showing a variety of different types of leaves and where they are commonly found. I’d say this book would be a great resource for children ages 4+ to reference to on their own.
Slow Down by Rachel Williams, Illustrated by Freya Hartas
This beautifully illustrated book contains 50 nature-based stories that will foster an appreciation for the everyday things in nature. It’s one that we were really excited to add to our collection this year and I’m also a really big fan of the illustrator! The subject matter spans across all four seasons and there are specific stories that we will be reading during autumn, such as one about a squirrel burying his acorn to save it for winter and one that showcases the phases of the moon. There’s a two page spread dedicated to each story and the stories are just as entertaining as they are educational. Another favorite is, of course, one about a slow moving snail and their behaviors in the garden.
Possum’s Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter
Possum decides to throw a party under the harvest moon as a last celebration before the long winter. The story follows him as he visits each of his animal friends to extend an invitation, but it seems like all of them are too busy preparing for winter! Just when it seems that Possum will be celebrating alone, seeing the moon leads them to have a change of heart and they join Possum for his grand celebration. This book is full of beautiful illustrations and really embodies the feeling of autumn. We use this one during our harvest moon studies, and also enjoy reading it throughout the season.
Woody, Hazel and Little Pip ( full / mini ) by Elsa Beksow
A charming story that follows the woodland adventures of two acorn children who get carried away by the autumn wind one day. Mr Squirrel and Hazel their friend search for them and have adventures of their own. The book is filled with whimsical Waldorf-style illustrations and would be a great read for children ages 4+. We have the mini edition of this book and I love the petite size of it, but the text is quite small so if you’re buying for a child to read on their own I’d recommend buying the full sized picture book version!
Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak
A beautifully illustrated story of a young girl walking through town and noticing signs of the season transitioning from summer into autumn. In a series of conversations, she says hello to greet each new change in nature that she sees, such as the leaves changing colors and late summer flowers like asters and phlox blooming. Just before the season change she says goodbye to summer. This is a wonderful book for both younger and older children and would be a great one to read before taking your own nature walk to observe signs of the season changing!
Cherry the Pig by Utako Yamada
Cherry the pig lives in village that is known for it’s home-grown fruit, so Cherry decides to bake an apple cake! She enters her delicious cake into a contest at her local Harvest Festival. She encounters some difficulties along the way and ends up learning that not everyone has the same preferences, which is okay. The story does great job of teaching the concept of keeping an open mind and being understanding to other’s perspectives. The book is full of charming illustrations in earthy colors and great for both younger and older children. We took this book out to use during the week when we are studying apples, but this is a favorite that we read year-round.
It Starts With a Seed by Laura Knowles
A story about a seed and it’s journey as it grows into a sycamore tree. Woodland creatures like squirrels and rabbits make their homes in the growing tree and the story does a fantastic job of emphasizing growth and life itself. Beautiful earthy illustrations are accompanied by a rhythmic lyrical story and ends with a beautiful fold-out page at the end that shows a mature tree shedding it’s seeds for the cycle to begin all over again. The end page also has a copy of the full story on one page, along with facts about a sycamore tree. We enjoy using this book during our seeds unit study at the beginning of the season and will continue to read it throughout the season.
Tidy by Emily Gravett
A story about a badger who loves everything around him being neat and tidy! As autumn leaves start falling and creating a mess, he takes his tidiness to the extreme and ends up accidentally destroying the forest. He quickly realizes that his habit of extreme tidiness wasn’t a good thing, and that leaving things a bit messy had a lot of benefits. The pages are beautifully illustrated and the writing style is lyrical, while also teaching important lessons and setting a great example for children of how to care for the earth. We will keep this one on our bookshelf year round!
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
A classic traditional tale of early farm life. This lyrical story follows a family that works off of their land to produce materials and create goods to sell which supports them for the upcoming year— like wool from their sheep, linens that they have woven or a broom that the son has carved. Skills and traditions are passed down from generation to generation and the story is great for fostering an appreciation for traditional craft.
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
A lovely picture book that tells the story of how a tree is grown by celebrating a child’s connection to a sugar maple tree. There is also interesting educational information included in the book, such as what photosynthesis is and other fun facts about trees.
The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
This story follows the progress of an apple tree through the seasons, from a bare tree in the winter, through the pink blossoms of the spring, to the apple picking in the autumn. If apple picking is an activity that your family does during fall, this is a great one!
All About Seeds (vintage)
This book covers several types of seeds, how they grow and what types of plants they can become. This is a favorite of ours for autumn and for when we are studying seed life cycle. The text is simple and is great for early readers.
The Mushroom Fan Club by Elise Gravel
This one is a favorite of ours! It presents the topic of mushrooms in a way that is age appropriate and easy to understand. This is not a field guide– the illustrations are whimsical and charming which I love. Lots of interesting facts throughout. I’d recommend this book for older children (4+) to understand the content, but younger children will still enjoy the illustrations!
Plants That Never Ever Bloom by Ruth Heller
This book covers a range of plants that do not have flowers such as mushrooms, seaweed and ferns. You’ll find full page vibrant illustrations inside the pages and simple text that would be easy for an early reader. This one is perfect for your mushroom studies!
A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long
A beautifully illustrated book that is a great introduction to seeds! Each page has both large and small text that contains some sort of fact about the seed. I love that this detail allows for you to use this book with a wide age range. We use this one during our seed study week.
Peterson First Guide to Birds of North America
These guides are perfect for the beginning naturalist and their small size makes them perfect for outdoor adventures. We like to use this particular one during our bird studies.
Trees vintage Golden Guide
The vintage golden guide series is a favorite of ours and we use these two heavily during autumn which is when we do a bulk of our nature collecting for the year!
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This post has been updated September 2021 to include additional titles
Rebecca says
So many great ideas, thank you. Hoping you will do one on springtime books too please!
Woodlark says
Hi Rebecca,
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the list! Hopefully soon for the Spring list.
– Ashley
Janice says
I know a couple of these books…but excited to learn about a few more of them! Love what you’ve written, very helpful. I’ll start with the library first. I’m a grandma.
Woodlark says
Hi Janice,
That’s so wonderful to hear! I hope that you find a few books that you love.
– Ashley