Some nice Halloween-free fall books and resources

Sharing the beauty and wonder of fall, for a number of Muslim parents, is made difficult by the ubiquitous presence of Halloween. Whether it's in books and videos that are aimed at discussing just the fall season, to visits to the pumpkin patch to a walk to enjoy fall foliage, it's difficult to avoid this tradition that has become a staple of our culture.

Now I know that some Muslims see nothing wrong with trick-or-treating, costumes and Halloween parties. From their perspective, it's a harmless celebration. My parents always felt otherwise and did not allow me to go trick-or-treating, for instance. I feel the same way as a parent today. So I explain to my kids that while many people do celebrate Halloween, and that is part of their culture and their choice, we as Muslims celebrate Eid with many of the things Halloween includes: gifts of candy and parties.

It's no doubt a challenge, but my take on Halloween, Christmas and other celebrations is to pump up the Eid excitement for my kids so they understand that while we respect other people's faith and traditions, we also have our own which we celebrate in similar ways.

This is why, when it comes to talking about fall, I try to find resources that are Halloween-free. Here are a couple I've come across (aimed at the age seven and under crowd):

BOOKS

1. How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin by by Margaret McNamara and G. Brian Karas
2. Autumn Across America by Seymour Simon. This one is for more advanced readers or if you are the one reading, kids with longer attention spans. But very nice photos from across the country.
3. Possum's Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter. A cute one about a possum who throws a party on the occasion of the Harvest Moon.
4. The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven. Lizzy is lonely in the first days after she starts school. To cure her loneliness, she makes an apple doll, Susanna, who ends up teaching her more than she expected about making friends and relating to others.
5. Hurry and the Monarch by Antoine O Flatharta. Hurry the tortoise learns about the yearly fall migration of Monarch butterflies to the south.
6. Pumpkin Town! by Katie McKy. A humorous look at what happens when a family of brothers carelessly scatters pumpkin seeds on the town below in the spring and realizes why it looks so orange and green in the fall.
7. Fall by Ron Hirschi. A clear, concise explanation of the changes the fall season brings to the natural world with nice photos and easy to read text.
8. An Apple for Harriet Tubman by Glennette Tilley Turner. A good way to discuss a heroic African-American into the fall season.
9. Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson. Fletcher the Fox is sad as he watches his favorite tree lose its leaves, trying various ways to stick them back on.


10. Muslim-themed fall book alert: One Green Apple by Eve Bunting. Farah is a Muslim girl from an unspecified Muslim country. On an apple-picking trip she struggles to relate to her peers and classmates while trying to find the right words to express herself. An interesting way to bring a Muslim perspective to fall.

FUN FALL ACTIVITIES
1. Apple bobbing (but don't do this if any of the kids are sick. They can spread the virus to others by putting their mouths repeatedly in the water).
2. Making apple and pumpkin pie or other food from these fruits.
3. Fall drive to see the foliage. Check out foliagenetwork.com to see a show near you.
4. Visit a nature center with animals and ask the experts about how the animals prepare for hibernation in the fall.
5. Apple/pumpkin picking
6. Leaf crafts
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/fall/crafts.html
http://crafts.kaboose.com/holidays/seasons/fall/index.html (skip the Halloween stuff :))
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/search.cfm?txt_search=fall (again, you can skip the Halloween stuff)
7. Study the different fruits and vegetables available during the season and/or cook a "fall" meal with the season's harvest.
8. Look out for the harvest moon (next year. this year it was on October 4, an amazing sight).