When Robbie Raccoon awakens to find that Old Father Oak, his favorite tree, is losing its leaves, he worries that his dear friend may be ill, but when he and his friends find out that Old Father Oak is simply adapting to the change of seasons, Robbie's mind is put at ease as he patiently awaits the new bloom in spring. - (Baker & Taylor)

Robbie the Raccoon and his friends love Father Oak and worry that he is sick when his leaves begin to turn color and fall off, but Robbie's mother explains what the change means and helps him plant some acorns as a sign of hope for spring. - (Baker & Taylor)

Robbie Raccoon's favorite friend is Old Father Oak. Robbie was born in Father Oak's trunk; he spent the spring swinging from Father Oak's branches; he spent the summer relaxing in the shade of Father Oak's limbs. But one day Robbie wakes up and notices that Father Oak is losing his leaves. Maybe he is cold. Maybe he is tired. Maybe he is sad. What can Robbie do to help?

Readers will delight in following Robbie and his friends as they are introduced to the magic of the changing seasons. - (Simon and Schuster)

Booklist Reviews

Robbie Raccoon loves his home in Old Father Oak, where he plays all summer long with his squirrel and blackbird friends. In the fall, Robbie wonders if Father Oak is sad to lose all of his leaves. Is the tree crying? Robbie's mother reassures him that the tree is just signaling the approach of winter—the "cold, dark, sleepy time, when all the leaves and flowers hide and sleep." As Robbie and his mom eat and eat and prepare for their winter nap, they plant five of Father Oak's acorns snugly in the ground. When they wake up in the spring, the five baby oaks have begun to grow. The mixed-media images are not always clear, especially in the geometric shapes that make up the small raccoon, but the fall colors are rich and warm. This offers a fun way to tell the hibernation story and to show the natural connections in the woods, through the seasons. Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

Cute Robbie Raccoon learns nature lessons via the life cycle of Father Oak. Robbie loves the stream near his home, the swishy grass and, most of all, Father Oak, the tree in which he was born and around which he plays with his friend Chip, a squirrel. When the seasons change, Robbie, Chip, Blackbird and some other small animals try, unsuccessfully, to use fallen leaves as a kind of blanket to protect Father Oak. Mother explains that the falling leaves are a signal that winter is coming, and that Father Oak will be just fine. The raccoons and their neighbors need to gather acorns and make their own winter blankets. Matsuoka's mixed-media pictures show the seasonal changes on Father Oak and the surrounding environment in a warm palette of earth tones. A gentle tale with a nifty lesson. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus 2007 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

PW Annex Reviews

This sappy story about the changing of the seasons is both weakly written and mawkish. Neither Hubery's contrived dialogue nor Matsuoka's stilted illustrations manage to leaven the essentially wooden story about an animal child who discovers autumn. When Robbie Raccoon and his friend Chip the chipmunk see that Father Oak's leaves are falling, Robbie is alarmed. "Father Oak must be sad. Let's give him a hug!" he says, and he calls to Blackbird to help them. "Father Oak is crying," he says, "so let's hug our hugest hug and sing our happiest song!" Robbie's mother consoles the youngsters by saying, "Don't worry, little ones. He isn't crying," and explains that seasons change. Matsuoka's illustrations portray Robbie unlike any raccoon found in the wild- with a cream-colored head, a dark brown body and striped tail. Unfortunately, the wing-shaped beige circles under Robbie's pinpoint eyes allow little room for varying expressions. So pronounced is the odd coloring that it is often difficult for the reader to see what the characters are doing, as if the various parts of the animals' bodies were puzzle pieces that didn't quite fit together. Young readers may have trouble understanding the visual depiction of the text, and the plethora of butterflies, hearts, and flowers dotting the pages, and the portrayal of the tree in winter as a lump of brown stuck with six sticks do little to resuscitate it. For a fresher treatment of the same theme, see David Ezra Stein's Leaves. Ages 4-8. (Aug.)

School Library Journal Reviews

PreS-Gr 2— Robbie Raccoon loves "the swishy grass" and "sparkling stream" of his forest home, but most of all, he loves Old Father Oak, site of the den where he was born. When its leaves begin to fall, Robbie and his friends fear that the tree is cold or even crying. Then the raccoon's mother assures them that the falling leaves are an autumn event that signals the coming of winter, a "cold, dark, sleepy time" when the disappearance of flowers and leaves, like their own winter sleep, is a preparation for spring. Before gathering leaves and food to hunker down with for winter, the animals plant five acorns that greet them as tiny seedlings when they emerge from their den in spring. The large, stylized illustrations, executed in mixed media, reflect the changing seasons from the lush greens of summer to the burnt oranges of autumn to the return of spring. Blue-toned circular vignettes embody the cold darkness of winter. A text that is a bit too affected—"Father Oak is crying, so let's hug our hugest hug and sing our happiest song!"—mars this otherwise useful vehicle for discussing the changing of the seasons. Kate Banks's The Great Blue House (Farrar, 2005) is a more lyrical treatment of a similar theme.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT