A PILE OF LEAVES

An art book, an autumn book, a discover-the-world-around-you book, all rolled into one.

As the book starts, young readers are told, “A pile of leaves is like a collage. Each layer adds something new and hides something underneath.” When children turn to the next page they’re in for a delightful surprise. Indeed there is a pile of leaves, but what a pile of leaves it is! A series of board-framed acetate pages makes up the pile. Each see-through page has an image or two on it. As children uncover the layers by turning the pages, they encounter different kinds of leaves, an acorn, ants, a grasshopper, a worm, a mitten, and someone’s lost key. As the pile on the recto gets deconstructed, the pile on the verso builds up in reverse. Some children may be inspired to tuck in their own little additions to the pile. What a wonderful way to invite children to explore not just this book, but also the world around them, where so many simple treasures hide in plain sight. For those curious to know the names of the different leaf types, bugs, and objects in the leaf pile, the last double-page spread identifies each.

Published in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, this book is its own little work of art.