Book Review: Fall Feast

Learn how plants and animals spend fall getting ready for winter in this sweet picture book. Fall Feast: Nature’s Harvest by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss features a family going for a walk on a cool fall day and observing what’s happening in nature.

Morss is an ecologist, journalist and educator, so you can be sure the facts shared in the book are accurate, while Cinyee Chiu’s illustrations are warm and inviting.

The children see birds, squirrels, fungi and nibbled nuts and apples on their walk, and learn from their mama how animals get ready for winter (and fungi and bugs help nature along by devouring a dead tree). They gather fallen apples and take them home to mom, who makes a fall treat so they can have their own feast together.

After the story, the book talks about why fall happens (because of the tilt of the earth away from the sun) and explores in more detail what’s happening with plants and animals this time of year. Some plants drop their leaves, for example, while others make berries or seed pods to spread their seeds around for next year.

Some animals hibernate or migrate, while others store up food, make a warmer winter shelter or grow thicker fur to keep warm.

It also covers insects, fungi and other decomposers, and gives tips for helping out the plants and animals in the fall. (I’d have liked a recipe for what they call flapjacks in the book but looks more like a cake to me, but that’s maybe just me.)

This book is the fourth in a series of books about nature and the seasons, which also includes Winter Sleep, Busy Spring, and Wild Summer. If you like the style and the story you might want to pick up all four so you have the complete story of the year for your family or classroom to share.

About the book: 32 pages, hardcover, published 2024 by Happy Yak. Suggested retail price $19.99.

Fall is a great time to learn about and observe the birds in your area, but you can do this any time of year. Whether you’re watching from a backyard or a playground, you’re sure to find a few birds and can learn about the birds that are native to your region in any case.

If you do see birds at home or where your classroom is, the Merlin app is a great one (if your school allows phones). If you don’t already know it, it listens to the sounds around you and can identify birds based on their calls. Very cool and a reason for kids to be quiet while you’re observing nature. Having an old fashioned paper guidebook to the birds where you live is also a great idea because kids can use it to look up birds and it’s just fun to have in the science center.

The specific birds involved in your learning will vary depending on where you live, but here are some bird activities you can do with your kids at home or in the classroom.

Natural Beach Living set up a simple bird nature study center that includes bird books and feathers in front of a big window. There are also some printables you’ll find links to in this post including three part cards and bird observation charts for birds local to them and a bird unit study with lots of great printables (this is a paid resource).

Adventure in a Box has a printable birds of the world bingo game, which might inspire you to learn more about some of the 48 different birds included, from emu to snowy owl, grackle to Atlantic puffin.

If you’re American you’ll enjoy these state bird coloring pages from Flanders Family Home Life. If I can count, only 48 states are listed (which I wouldn’t have noticed except Arkansas isn’t there; it’s one of many whose state bird is the mockingbird). Print out all of them or just your home state, or give each child a bird to research and color to do a presentation in the classroom.

And you can learn more about the different types of bird nests and see if you can observe any of them on a nature walk with this guide to bird nests from Fun Mom Printables on Etsy. It includes information about eight types of nests with drawings and three part cards.

Have you read?

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