Apples

Great book. It arrived timely and in the condition as written.

Great book. I love this author!

Great book to add to my collection of "apple" books for my apple unit for first graders! Thank you!

This is a great nonfiction book about apples. I learned a lit from it. we've read several books that mention grafting and cross pollination, but this was the first I've seen that actual explained and illustrated those concepts very clearly. I didn't realize how long this book was when I got it for my 2 year old during our apple unit, so it took us a few sittings to finish it, but even she enjoyed it. The text was simple enough for her to follow along, and the pictures helped to explain the text. This is a great book for an apple unit in K-5!

As apple season commences, parents and teachers will reach for nonfiction sources on America's "most popular fruit." This book is one of the most thorough picture book resources I have encountered. In readable, accessible prose, Farmer introduces modern practices for cultivating apple crops, explores basic botany and fertilization, and outlines the annual cycle of planting, growth, harvest and marketing. An attractive chart introduces some of the more popular apple varieties, followed by sections on cider and juice production, nutrition, and even historical background and folklore involving apples. Tildes' watercolor and pencil illustrations are appealingly attractive, supplementing the text very nicely. This may be a little above the heads of a preschoolers, and is well suited to an elementary audience -- although everyone who reads this book is likely to learn something new.

Did you know that in ancient Greece that if a young man tossed an apple to a woman that was considered to be a marriage proposal? If she caught it, they were heading to the altar. The apple is "the most popular fruit in the United States." If you've ever gone to an apple orchard to watch the picking or pick some yourself you may have noticed different varieties such as the Granny Smith, McIntosh or Red Delicious. If you were there, you've probably had a big smile on your face when you tasted them! Apples are part of the "rose family of plants." The trees are seldom grown from seeds, but rather are grafted using rootstocks and scions. The scions, or sprouts, determine the apple variety and are grafted onto the rootstock. The rootstock is "the root of a young apple tree . . . that determines the tree's size, life span, and resistance to pests and cold weather." In this book you will learn about why the apple tree needs to be pruned and fertilized, how long it takes them to mature and produce fruit, where they grow best, how farmers prevent them from being buggy, the parts of the apple blossom, how they are pollinated, how the blossom is fertilized and how the apples convert starch into sugar. Toward the back of the book you'll get to view several apple varieties and learn about their appearance, texture, flavor and uses. You'll also learn about apple cider, a bit about nutrition, apple tips and the history of apples. This was a very well researched and nicely written book on apples that anyone, save people who grow them, could learn a few things about them. The book was very interesting and pulled me right along. The illustrations are colorful and I like the smiling faces of the children portrayed enjoying apples. This is an excellent book for its intended audience. If you need a simple primer on apples, this is a perfect one, especially if you live in apple country!