I love seeing the leaf people , their bodies were made of leaves and their head looked like they were pumpkins. I thought that was super cute!

I thought I would like this book more than I did. I didn't warm up to the story, but the pretty illustrations helped me give this one three stars. ( )

Crisp autumn breezes and warm harvest tastes serve as the inspiration of Harriet Ziefert’s picture book, By the Light of the Harvest Moon. When a tired, hard working farmer goes to bed on a night when the harvest moon is present, an autumn breeze comes along with a “swish, swish” and kicks up the fall leaves. The result is a group of leaf people, complete with grandparents, parents, children and pets. The children go off to play; doing all sorts of fall activities like bobbing for apples, stringing popcorn necklaces, juggling acorns, weaving wreathes out of leaves, and stacking pumpkins. When the stack of pumpkins teeters and rolls down a hill, the children follow it and are surprised by a party the grown-ups have created just for them, filled with a plethora of harvest foods. They even get to hear stories from a grandmother leaf-person about the autumn equinox and what it means.
By the Light of the Harvest Moon is a whimsical fall story told in rhyme with enchanting pictures by Mark Jones. The leaf people have pumpkins for heads, but they are proportionate and cute, not scary. They are dressed in actual cloth clothes from all different eras and even different countries, and even have “hairstyles” made from leaves. The leaf pets are particularly cute, and while the leaf people are made of traditional autumn colored leaves, the pets—a dog and a cat—are made of green leaves. The story itself does not have much plot; instead it chronicles the activities of the leaf people during one evening. The story of the autumn equinox seems forced and out of character for the rest of the story, since it is more like a school lesson and the rest of the book is fun and games. Still, this is a beautiful book that will surely stir imaginations about the possibilities presented by autumn evenings when the harvest moon is present. Recommended for grades Pre-K-3. ( )