Mrs Williams Recommends - Autumn Reads
As the leaves begin to turn and our school comes together to celebrate Harvest Festival and the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight, our thoughts naturally turn to gratitude, food, and the global communities that bring our food to our tables.
To support these wonderful themes at school and home, I have put together a special selection of recommended reads for children across both Lower and Upper School. These books offer brilliant springboards for discussion about nature, sharing, and global citizenship.
Lower School
Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak - This gentle, beautifully illustrated picture book follows a young girl as she strolls through her town and countryside, greeting the signs of autumn. It is a wonderful introduction to the seasonal transition we experience at this time of year, helping younger children notice changes in the weather, plants, and animal habits.
Harvest Days by Kate DePalma, illustrated by Martina Peluso - Packed with vibrant, lush artwork and lyrical, rhyming text, this book takes young readers on a journey around the world to explore twelve different harvest celebrations. It provides a fantastic link to our school Harvest focus, showing children how people everywhere celebrate food, crops, and the hard work that goes into producing them.
Upper School
The Little Gardener by Emily Hughes - This is the magical and touching story of Bren, a very small boy who lives in a very large garden and works tirelessly to care for it. Though the garden is too big for him alone, his dedication inspires a community effort. It’s a wonderful metaphor for teamwork, looking after our environment, and the patience needed when growing things - tying in nicely with the spirit of Harvest.
The Chocolate Tree: A Mayan Folktale by Linda Lowery - As we launch into themes of fair trade and global food production, this engaging folktale explains how the gods gave the Maya the cacao tree. It offers a brilliant cross-curricular link to history and geography, prompting children to think about where chocolate comes from and the long history behind our everyday treats.
The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry - Set in the Amazon rainforest, a man falls asleep and is visited by various rainforest animals who whisper in his ear explaining why he must not chop down the great kapok tree. It is a powerful, thought-provoking text that encourages older children to think deeply about our global ecosystem, sustainability, and our responsibility to protect the planet’s natural harvest.
Fair Trade:
One Plastic Bag by Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul - Based on a true story, this inspiring book shows how one woman in West Africa noticed the mounting problem of discarded plastic bags harming her community's livestock and environment, and started a movement of recycling and upcycling. It brilliantly mirrors the ethos of Fairtrade Fortnight: empowering local communities, ethical consumption, and creating a fairer, cleaner world.
Happy reading, and we hope these books inspire plenty of conversations at home this autumn!