Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Fall Mixed Up
Illustrator: Chad Cameron
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Lerner, 2011 ISBN: 978-0761346067
Most of us know what to expect in the fall. Leaves change color and fall to the ground, animals prepare for the winter by gathering food, flying south, or hibernating, apples turn red, and pumpkins turn orange. Imagine what it would be like if all these things were mixed up. What would fall be like?
Well, for a start leaves would “float up into / blue skies overhead.” Bears would gather nuts, geese would hibernate, and squirrels would “fly south in / big figure eights.” Children would leap into piles of sticks instead of into piles of leaves, and they would get “stuffing and / drumsticks for treats” instead of candy on Halloween night.
In this topsy-turvy picture book, Bob Raczka’s clever verse is paired with Chad Cameron’s amusing art to give children a book that they can look through again and again, looking for the things that “aren’t right.” There are ‘mistakes’ not only in the art, but in the text as well.
