By Cyrisse Jaffee

Two books that deal with different rituals of autumn.

A Fall Day for Bear by Bonny Becker. Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton. Candlewick Press, 2025.

On Our Way with Mr. Jay by Chelsea Lin Wallace. Illustrated by Thyra Heder. Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, 2025.

A Fall Day for Bear heralds the arrival of the season. Mouse and Bear are good friends, but today Mouse is depressed — he’s upset that it’s fall. “All the leaves are leaving,” he tells Bear mournfully. “The birds are waving goodbye. The flowers are gone.” Nothing Bear does can cheer Mouse up — not even when Bear brings a picnic or pretends to be the Autumn Fairy. Then it starts to rain and Bear slips, clumsily, in the mud. Bear is outraged that Mouse thinks it’s funny, but then he recovers. At Bear’s house, they clean up, drink tea, and settle “down to be deeply sad by the fire.”

This is a gentle, reassuring book about feelings, change, and friendship. Bear’s hibernation is hinted at in the last scene, which shows him snoozing by the fire. The affection the two characters have for each other is obvious, as is the way they support each other. The soothing illustrations, awash in browns and greens, capture Bear’s goofy friendliness and Mouse’s melancholy.

Another fall ritual is of course going back to school. As she did with the school nurse in The Boo-Books of Blueberry Elementary, Chelsea Lin Wallace’s On Our Way with Mr. Jay celebrates an important person in many kids’ lives — the school bus driver. Mr. Jay, wearing a ponytail and a purple shirt, climbs into his yellow school bus at 6:30 a.m. Can he pick up all 18 kids and make it to school by 8:05 a.m.? Of course he can!

Starting out in a rural setting, Mr. Jay must contend with a twisty road that makes Lulu a little carsick. Then a “gusty gale” sends a diorama up a tree, which Mr. Jay rescues. “We can fix it,” he tells Rosie-May and Mary Dale. “I’ve got glue.” A swan chases Dawn onto the bus and Noodle the dog jumps in to say hello. As the bus enters the city, a traffic jam slows them down, but Mr. Jay is prepared. He finds a shortcut, steps on the gas, and all arrive safely at school.

Tyra Heder fills the pages with speech bubbles, lots of details, action, and appealing kids of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some adults may squirm a bit when the bus exits the highway, cuts through a parking lot, and then picks up speed down a hill. (Mr. Jay wears a seat belt but the kids don’t, as is typical on school buses.) But Mr. Jay exudes kindness and caring for each of his passengers, and kids will enjoy the messy, chaotic, joyful ride.

Cyrisse Jaffee is a former children’s and YA librarian, children’s book editor, and a creator of educational materials for WGBH. She holds a master’s degree in Library Science from Simmons College and lives in Newton, MA.