Bella’s Fall Coat

A girl named Bella, “not as little as she used to be,” revels in an autumn day—and in the patchwork coat her grandmother made for her, a coat that’s on its last legs. Grams repeatedly suggests that the coat is ready for retirement, but Bella isn’t having it, repeatedly dashing outdoors to romp through the leaves, pick apples from trees, and dash alongside migrating geese (“She sneaked and snooped. She honked and whistled. She flapped and flew”). The mutual adoration between Bella and Grams is abundantly evident in the tender exchanges Plourde (Merry Moosey Christmas) puts together, as well as in Gal’s (Here Is the World) gauzy, multilayered images, which capture both Bella’s near-inexhaustible energy and that of a woodland landscape in flux. Ages 3–5. Illustrator’s agency: Morgan Gaynin. (Sept.)