For the Love of Autumn
Grade 2–4—Polacco has created another picture book filled with warmth and love. A student teacher, Danielle, rescues a kitten, and when she gets a teaching job that takes her to Port Townsend, WA, and a house on a bay, they settle in. Then Autumn is wounded and lost in a thunderstorm, and despite Danielle's class's efforts to find her, she appears to be gone for good. Everyone is amazed when she returns weeks later, fit as a fiddle. Danielle eventually meets the man who has cared for her pet, and they fall in love. This is a lovely story, with a strong sense of place and illustrated with Polacco's trademark patterns and facial structures. While this story is too long for a traditional storytime, it could be used successfully as a one-on-one read.—Susan E. Murray, Glendale Public Library, AZCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.