RED LEAF, YELLOW LEAF

A simple narrative celebrating a child's pleasure in a sugar maple—its prepurchase history, its changing appearance during the year, planting, growth—is extended with excellent notes on the tree's parts as well as lucid instructions for planting and caring for it. In her handsome collages, Ehtert blends bold graphics, vibrant colors, and laudably precise details (e.g., of maple flowers and roots). An outstanding example of early nonfiction that is not only visually striking but also informative and scrupulously accurate. (Picture book. 4-8)