Lois Ehlerts's Growing Garden
(HMH $14.99 Score:)

For the growing season this set of three handsome picture books may well inspire a new crop of young gardeners. These are all reissued in a smaller paperback format that retains the artful look of the originals. Eating the Alphabet is an alphabet book of fruits and veggies. Growing Vegetable Soup is a treasure of artful veggies with a recipe for making soup. Planting a Rainbow is a color concept book with more than 20 different kinds of flowers. The gift package comes with a poster to hang in the kitchen or a child's room.

Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2013. Click here to purchase the product on Amazon.com.

Fall Leaves Fall!
(by Zoe Hall/illus. by Shari Halpern, Scholastic $15.95 Score:) Collage and cut-paper art make this book about the seasons a treat for the eyes. 3 & up.

Age: Preschool. Award Year: 2001.

Dot and Jabber and the Great Acorn Mystery
(by Ellen Stoll Walsh, Harcourt $15 Score:) Two mouse detectives figure out how an acorn gets from one end of the meadow to another. In this early science book Walsh blends fact and fancy in text and torn paper collages.

Age: Preschool,Early School Years. Award Year: 2002.

Red Are the Apples
(by Marc Harshman and CHeryl Ryan/ illus. by Wade Z, Harcourt $16 Score:) A celebration of the bounty of colors and good things found in a fall garden. Zahares's exuberant palette goes beyond the usual providing something of a stretch for the picture-book set. 3-7. For a charming but strictly apples book, Apple Farmer Annie (by Monica Wellington, Dutton $14.99) 3 & up.

Age: Preschool,Early School Years. Award Year: 2002.

Pie in the Sky
(by Lois Ehlert, Harcourt $16.99 Score:) Starting with the somber brown tones of early spring a child looks for evidence that the tree in the yard is what Dad calls a “Pie Tree”. The text invites children to search for lists of bugs, bark, and other natural items that are easily found in the stunning paper-cut collages that are Lois Ehlert’s trademark. No pie is found, but as the season changes the artist’s palette bursts forth with blossoms, birds, butterflies, and a bright red cherry feast that lights up the pages! It’s berry-luscious! One of Ehlert’s very best! 3 & up.

Age: Preschool,Early School Years. Award Year: 2004.