Apple Picking Book Recommendations

It's apple picking time in New England! In honor of our annual tradition, here are a few excellent books on apples and apple picking that I found at my local library.

Amazing Apples, written and illustrated by Consie Powell.
Published by Albert Whitman & Co. in 2003.
ISBN 0-8075-0399-1

Amazing Apples uses simple poems in acrostic form to describe apple orchards and apple picking. The poems are clever and and not forced for the sake of the acrostic form. For a peek at the inside of the book follow the Amazing Apples link.

My 6 year old reader did not notice the acrostics when he read the book by himself. However, once I pointed them out he easily understood the concept of an acrostic. He thought writing his own acrostic would be fun, though it might be a challenge since his spelling isn't as good as his reading yet.

In addition to the fun poems, I also enjoyed the illustrations. Mrs. Powell used hand-colored woodblocks to create the images. Each page is filled with colorful details to interest the eye. Maybe we will use some potato blocks to illustrate our own acrostic poems next week.


The Life and Times of the Apple, written and illustrated by Charles Micucci.
Published by Orchard Books in 1992.
ISBN 0-531-05939-1

Grafting, parts of the flower, statistics on apple production around the world, The Life and Times of the Apple is chock full of information about the apple.

In addition to the apple facts, the illustrations are fantastic! Using watercolor and pencil, Micucci shows you the fine details of the parts of an apple flower, how a bee pollinates an the flower and how the flower turns into an apple. Despite all of the facts The Life and Times of the Apple manages to maintain a whimsical attitude that children and grown-ups will enjoy.

Those are my apple book recommendations for this year. What apple books do you recommend I read next year?