APPLESAUCE SEASON

Flavored with family tradition and spiced with Gerstein’s cheerful illustrations, this account of one family’s love of applesauce hits the spot. One day “when it is still hot and summery, but vacation is over,” Grandma says, “It’s time for applesauce.” The city-dwelling family buys apples (“at least three different kinds”) at an outdoor market. The names and varieties of apples and the details of cooking change as the season progresses, with the subtle variations in the process lovingly detailed in both text and image. The “first sauce of the season” is celebrated and toasted at a special gathering of family and friends, while later Grandpa is remembered on his birthday with a candle-bedecked pie. The child narrator (who sports round, red glasses just like Grandma’s) wonders whether he’ll prefer pie to sauce when he grows up, while the illustrations project a future generation of apple lovers, a poignant touch for this last book by the late Lipson. In a crowded orchard of apple books, this one stands out for home or school apple- and/or family-tradition projects. Applesauce recipe appended. (Picture book. 4-8)