Books About
Fall Color & Autumn in New England

Autumn: A New England Journey has become part of our perennial celebration of both nature and literature at their festive best. With dazzling new photographs and a new cover, this reissue of one of New England's most beloved books is more spectacular than ever. Ninety color photographs, by turn meditative and passionate, capture New England's fiery colors and pastoral tranquillity, and are brought to life by Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, E. E. Cummings, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and many more. To help us on our journey, a fourteen-page guide presents maps, excursions, and descriptions of the most beautiful sights.
reviewed:"A Must for Nature Lovers...   The photos in this book are exceptional. Combined with the writings of New England authors this book celebrates the wonder and spirituality of nature that we, non-writers, feel but for which cannot find the words."

reviewed:"An essay omitted from many anthologies. ..    Published in _Atlantic Monthly_ five months after his death, this essay describes the colors of the New England landscape as Henry David Thoreau saw them in the mid-1800s. His motivation for writing such words seems to have been his neighbors' apathy and indifference toward the natural world, for "A man sees only what concerns him." And so Thoreau speaks of the beauty of purple grasses and of maples, elms, and oaks. He doesn't mind the fallen willow leaves that land in his boat and doesn't clean them out -- he accepts them as extra cushioning for his seat. One wonders what Henry would think now, when tourists are apt to drive to New England on fall weekends, just to see the leaves. There's no earth-shattering revelations in this booklet. It's just an easy read for a crisp and bright October day."

Professional photographers Jerry and Marcy Monkman have selected the most stunning shots from their years of photographing New England foliage to create this beautiful, appealing gift book. Appendixes show where to go to view the best foliage. 80 color photographs, 2 maps.
reviewed:"A Beautiful Souvenir of a Fall Day in New England...    This is a book for people who love the fall season in New England. Some of the shots are of familiar places, others are less well known. Many of the photographs contained in this book are grand scenic shots of the mountains in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, or the raging rivers in New Hampshire. Yet they also include close ups of smaller detailed subjects that are often ignored when we make foliage trips."

Through the inspiring photography of Anthony E. Cook and the evocative writing of naturalist Ann Zwinger, Fall Colors Across North America takes you on a magnificent tour of autumn's multicolored tapestry. For four autumns, Cook trekked across North America to capture the alluring changes of fall foliage. His journey took him from the Alaska tundra in the Far North, through Canada and the northern United States, all the way to the bald cypress swamps of Louisiana in the Deep South. The result is a stunning, artistic look at this most magnificent of seasons.
reviewed:"Enter All Parts of Nature's Fall-Decorated Cathedral!,    If you buy only one book of nature photography focused on the autumn season, this book would be a superb choice!"

You'll add depth and fun to your trip if you get a color guidebook to the autumn woods. The excellent Fall Color and Woodland Harvests, for instance, depicts leaves in full fall regalia-not to mention nuts, seeds, and berries-for a hundred species east of the Mississippi. With it, you can figure out that those spindly, screaming-scarlet trees near the new highway are smooth sumac; or that the large, orange-leaved woodland shrub is black haw; or that a certain ground-hugging cloud of brownish gold is a drift of cinnamon ferns. (Yes, many ferns turn color, too)
reviewed:"Lovely, easy to use basic guide...   This guide is different. First of all, there are both drawn leaf outlines and color photographs (lots of them, quite beautiful) as well as verbal descriptions. And the photographs almost all include MANY leaves of that tree, so you can see how much the leaves actually vary from each other. I thought this was a brilliant idea. Best of all, all of these trees were photographed in the fall, so the color really helps you out too!"

This small pocket guide to the more common fall color trees (6 X 4, 64 pp) contains 60 striking color photographs and the basic information to help you identify what tree you're looking at. A unique step-by-step method lets you identify a specific tree from the photos, drawings of leaves, and maps of the ranges where you can find each species. Tourists, teachers, and serious field botanists alike will find this a useful and enjoyable guidebook. The identification key is easy enough for school groups to use, but sophisticated enough to satisfy the amateur botanist. A Leaf/Shape Color Index allows quick identification of a tree by leaf shape and color.

This informal but authoritative guide-part artistic color photography, part science, part travelogue-answers commonly asked questions about foliage: Why do leaves turn yellow, or red? Why do leaves fall? How can you identify trees by their leaves or their bark? Where are the best displays of fall foliage nationwide, and when is peak season?
reviewed:" Simply a jewel  ... The difference here is that this book isn't just a collection of pretty pages to gaze upon. It's a working tree and shrub identification guidebook, set in autumn splendor. Traditional guidebooks show leaves and trees of individual species in full summer spread, predominantly green. "Fall Foliage" shows what those leaves and trees typically look like when they change color. 37 native and landscape/non-native species are represented. The latter section of the book is devoted to *where* such fall colors can be seen, outlining key touring spots in about half of the states in the union. (In this effort, I must take a small offense at the omission of Illinois, Iowa and Indiana; for I know after living in the Midwest that tree color can be seen in those states, just not an overwhelming amount of it.) Foliage hotlines and state vacation web sites are listed as well."

It's fall again, and time for Jim and Andy to help their dad run Fred's Fall Color Tours. The tourists they shuttle around are "Leaf Peepers"--and, boy, do those Peepers love to ooh and aah about the dumbest things. Leaves, trees, pumpkins. Bo-o-ring. But this year, even as they poke fun at the Peepers, Jim and Andy can't help but notice how the leaves floating in the river look like a brilliantly colored island, and how the spiky tree branches seem to sweep the clouds across the night sky. Maybe the Peepers aren't so silly after all.

reviewed:"Autumn Delight ..    James Ransome's wonderful illustrations make this Eve Bunting book a delight! A great read-aloud for my fourth grade class, we have become "peepers" at school, and have created an autumn leaf tree display in our classroom. Now, my students join the other peepers in "Ooh's and Aah's."

reviewed:" Beautiful!...    have never lived in Maine, but have vacationed there. This book certainly captures the majestic beauty of one America's most breathtaking states. Hubbell's work displays the classic "old New England" landscape each of his pictures. All of the photos, from the ocean to mountains, are just magnificent. This book makes you want to live there!"
" Superb artistry in photography...   Bill Hubbell's work always shines with a superb technical clarity and artistic insight. This book continues his tradition of technical and artistic genius as he covers his favorite subject matter in Maine. This book brings a breadth and scope of vision to these images of Maine that will inspire you. (...as they have me.)"

Each listing in Summer & Fall Wildflowers of New England includes a thorough text description of flower and leaves, as well as details about range, growth habits, and habitat. In addition to common names, the listings also include Latin names and families. The most prominent feature, however, is the more than 700 color illustrations by Marilyn Dwelley. Unlike photographs taken in the wild, her detailed colored-pencil renderings are not cluttered by surrounding flora and so allow for easy identification of species. The book's convenient size makes it perfect for use as a field guide, but the exquisite artwork and wonderful descriptions make it equally suitable for the bookshelf.

For more than thirty years Richard Brown has been taking photographs of his adopted home state of Vermont. Brown's soulful images create a distinctive photographic portrait of Vermont's landscape. He chronicles with great affection the people who still work the land, and without sentiment celebrates a rapidly disappearing way of life. 120 color photographs.
reviewed:"Richard W. Brown Gives Us the Treasure Of New England!, ...    He stuns us with the majesty of Vermont as it transpires through its incredibly beautiful cycle of seasons in a way that only a photographer of such obvious abilities could. Herein he shares many of his favorites, and several of these I have seen before in other venues. The problem with a book filled with such gorgeously shot, developed and produced rural photographs is that one is tempted to carefully extract them for framing on the wall."

reviewed:"This guide is for everyone who appreciates Vermont's glorious autumn. Whether you are the casual observer in awe of the colorful splendor or the beginning naturalist who wants to know the scientific processes behind each changing leaf, this books is indispensable. From a distance or up close, on whatever level you choose to participate in the annual spectacle of Vermont foliage, this informative and practical guide is your key to unlocking the mysteries of autumn."