  | Full Text Reviews: Bulletin for the Center... - 10/01/2005 Ehlert’s collages have often been pressed into the service of lessons and concepts, but here she indulges in the pure delight of imaginative playfulness. She follows the windborne journey of the Leaf Man as he breezes through the fall landscape, transforming himself into a multitude of creatures. Using color-photocopied cutouts of collected autumn leaves, Ehlert arranges them into mice, chickens, geese, fruit trees, pond and river life, even a spotted cow, and subtly blends them onto backgrounds of textured papers trimmed at the top into undulating scalloped waves or spiky serration. “Maybe Leaf Man’s gliding on a lake breeze,” says the text as a brilliant orange hawthorn and maple fish with a gingko tail swims by, followed by a linden-carapaced and locust-legged turtle, “or flying along the river following butterflies going south,” as ash bodies with a pair of delicate stem antennae nestle between spread maple wings. A concluding spread of scattered leaves encourages viewers to find combinations suggestive of faces and limbs, and by extension to seek out their own naturally occurring leaf people in the Great Outdoors. Endpapers and jacket flaps identify many of the vibrant specimens in Ehlert’s collection, and children who wish apply their naturalist skills to finding different leaf types in the artwork will have plenty to keep them busy. Dreamier kids, though, will be well content to simply enjoy the view. - Copyright 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. School Library Journal - 11/01/2005 PreS-Gr 3-Ehlert combines vivid collage artwork, effulgent colors, and an inventive design to create an eye-catching picture book. With a body made of fallen leaves and acorns for eyes, Leaf Man takes off from a backyard and flutters away on the breeze, meandering past animals, over fields of fall vegetables, above waterways, and across prairie meadows. The text suggests a range of possible destinations, along with the refrain, "Well, a Leaf Man's got to go where the wind blows." Finally, readers are encouraged to listen for "a rustle in the leaves" and maybe find a Leaf Man of their own to take home. From ducks to pumpkins to fish, all of the objects described are fashioned out of life-size leaves of various shapes, sizes, and hues and set against backgrounds of textured paper. The die-cut pages curve and bend across the top edge, suggesting undulating mountains set against a sky-blue backdrop. The various leaves and seeds are identified on the endpapers. While the story is simple, the artwork is dazzling, and the book's concept will inspire nature walks, art projects, and curiosity about the changing seasons.-Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. - Copyright 2005 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 06/01/2005 *Starred Review* Ehlert’s imaginative way with picture books in general and those of the natural world in particular continues with this eye-popping book that follows one bold maple leaf with acorn eyes as the wind blows it here and there. In a brief author’s note, Ehlert describes how she picks up leaves wherever she goes. She uses them--gathered from oaks, hawthorns, elms, beeches, and more--to great affect here, cleverly shaping them into the many animals and objects the leaf flies over: chickens, fruits and vegetables and lakes, fish, and rivers. Hints of whimsy are cleverly incorporated in the figures (the tips of a maple leaf form a cow’s udder), and scalloped edgings on the tops of the pages, cut at varying heights, artfully give the effect of setting the action against a three-dimensional landscape. There is no real story here, but the book can easily translate into a guessing game, as young eyes pick out the slightly camouflaged shapes. The bright colors and distinctive shapes will make it a pleasure for children to do just that. - Copyright 2005 Booklist. Loading...
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