I’m not sure who or what designated October as “National Go on a Field Trip Month”, but it makes sense. Preschool/kindergarten classes and Head Start classes in our area have been busy with field trips to pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and our libraries. If your local teachers are looking for great picture books to accompany their fun outings, make sure you have these books on hand!
(image taken from Albert Whitman & Company)
Going to the apple orchard? Felicia Sanzari Cherensky’s From Apple Trees to Cider, Please! (2015) is the depiction of a perfect autumn outing: picking apples, pressing cider, and having fun at an apple cider festival (complete with an apple cider doughnut). This story in rhyme illustrates the basics of apple cider production in a cheerful and inviting manner.
(image taken from Simon & Schuster)
Angela Johnson’s Lottie Paris and the Best Place (2013) is a charming and sweet ode all the fun that can be had in a library outing: finding awesome books and even finding a new friend! This is the sequel (of sorts) to Lottie Paris Lives Here; I hope Angela Johnson has more adventures planned for Lottie Paris and Papa Pete.
(image taken from Scholastic)
Our copies of Pumpkin Circle (1999) are constantly checked out during the autumn; George Levenson’s simple and informative text and Shmuel Taler’s enlarged and eye-catching photographs of a pumpkin seed going through the growth cycle is a superb nonfiction read aloud.
(image taken from MacMillan)
Although trips to the zoo are probably more popular in the spring than fall, Lenny Hort’s irresistible The Seals on the Bus (2000) is frequently used in my transportation/animal sounds story times. This very noisy (and smelly!) bus on its way to a zoo (or a party at a zoo; the final illustration can be interpreted in different ways) will have your audience roaring, hissing, and yelling “help, help, help” (in empathy with the poor people on the bus!) with much gusto. As you can guess, the story is set to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.”
Do you have any favorite stories about pumpkins/pumpkin patches, apple orchards, library visits, or field trips in general? Let us know in the comments!