SOUR APPLE

A lonely apple is left behind at harvest time.

All the apples have wide-open eyes, but our protagonist—green with a brown spot, in contrast to the bright red ones—has a questioning personality. In simple, rhymed text, the unpicked apple wants to know why it wasn’t selected: “Am I not shiny enough to sell at the market? Or not tiny enough to be used as a target?” (The accompanying illustration for that last line depicts William Tell.) Other apple allusions appear: Newton’s encounter with a falling apple; the evil stepmother, the poisoned apple, an unconscious Snow White, and the seven dwarfs. Our apple plaintively wonders: “Am I too ordinary to make or break your day?” Well-known apple adages are referenced as the apple adds, “Or not sweet enough to be the apple of your eye? Or not extraordinary enough to keep the doctor away?” While young children may need adult readers to explain some of these examples, they’ll understand the little apple’s unhappiness. They’ll be upset when insects try to devour the apple and seemingly bury it but will cheer when the passage of time brings about an amazing transformation: The apple eventually becomes a tree. Bold colors and shapes reminiscent of Eric Carle’s artwork will entice children; they’ll be gratified to see this seemingly hopeless piece of fruit ultimately succeed.

An uplifting tale of triumph.