Gather Grateful
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Lyrical prose and luminous illustrations welcome the arrival of fall in a season of community and thanksgiving. Gather twigs and sticks to nest. Gather safety, strength, and rest. Gather up and fly away. Gather close. Prepare to stay. As colors in nature start to change, animals begin gathering items—squirrels their acorns, crows their treasures, raccoons the bits and pieces needed to fortify their homes. Animals of all species prepare to gather with each other too, for warmth, for affection, for sharing food or stories. With lilting, rhythmic prose, Megan Litwin heralds the beginning of the season and follows the transition of animals and humans as they prepare for the coming winter. Alexandra Finkeldey’s striking limited palette, capturing the preparations outside and in, brings this story of love and gratitude to quietly glowing life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Spare verse from Litwin affectingly builds to convey autumnal priorities, from food- to community-gathering, in this companionable picture book. A creaturely opening establishes the theme, spotlighting a sleek-nosed red fox and fluffy-tailed squirrels ("Gather acorns. Gather seed./ Gather all young mouths will need"). Eventually, the animals converge, and rhyming prose shifts to human-centered, with figures who "gather, cuddle, hug, greet." It's at this moment that Finkeldey's wispy gouache and acrylic ink renderings shift from yam-colored outdoor scenes with the occasional blue accent to cerulean domestic spaces with rust accoutrements. Naturally, a feast is enjoyed by the group, pictured with skin of varying blues. Simple closing lines tie together animalian and non-animalian threads, articulating the way seasonal change unites species: "Gather outside. Gather in.// Cozy time can now begin." Ages 3–7.
