Camilla and the Fall Festival by Joyce Dillemuth – PPBF

Camilla and the Fall Festival

Julie Dillemuth, PhD

Laura Wood, Illustrator

Magination Press, Fiction, Aug 5, 2025

Suitable for ages: 5-9

Themes: Animals, Boars, Community, Festivals, Maps, Storm, Problem-solving

Opening: “Fall was Camilla’s favorite time of year.  Dry leave swirling on the breeze make the air smell like her mos treasured old maps. Less daylight meant more cozy time to curl up in bed and read with a book.” 

Publisher’s Synopsis:

Our favorite mapping boar is back in her fourth adventure!

Camilla loves the annual Fall Festival. Hazelnut bread, chestnut pudding, leaf art, pinecone patterns . . . she can’t wait to celebrate all her favorite traditions, just like every year.

Camilla, Parsley the porcupine, and all their forest friends work hard getting everything ready . . . only for a windstorm to destroy everything the night before the festival is supposed to start. Decorations are scattered throughout the forest and clear across the meadow! Does this mean the festival is ruined? Or can teamwork―and Camilla’s mapping skills―save the day?

The festival might not look exactly the way it always has . . . but maybe change can be a good thing. And maybe they can discover some new traditions along the way. Camilla discovers that her favotie holiday doesn’t have to be perfect to be just as special and maingful.

My thoughts:

With autumn approaching, Julie Dillemuth’s delightful book about a forest fall festival will captivate readers imaginations.  It features adorable and unusual forest animal friends — a boar, a porcupine, a rabbit, a bear, a skunk, a fox, a mouse and a bird — all working hard together to collect and prepare food, hang the decorations of berries, pinecones, leaf art and much more. 

The story embraces the many traditions of all of the forest friends. But when the storm wipes out their hard work, they animals must set aside their disappointment and come together to use their problem-solving skills. After all they are a team. Camilla’s map-making skills help them to locate lost objects, mark landmarks and create a new path. Can they embrace change and still enjoy a great festival?

Laura Wood’s lively illustrations are packed with expressive and lovable charachters. 

Includes a Reader’s Note from the author with more information about flexible thinking resilience and spatial thinking skills.

Julie Dillemuth has a PhD in geography and is the author of picture books that help children develop and practice spatial thinking skills, problem solving and social-amotional skills. She is also the author of Camilla tha Cartographer, Camilla and the Big Change, and Camilla, Super Helper. Visit Julie at juliedillermuth.com and @JulieDillermuthBooks on Facebook and Pinterest.

*The publisher provided an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.