Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Red are the apples
Illustrator: Wade Zahares
Picture Book
For ages 3 to 5
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007 ISBN: 978-0152060657
Mornings are cools now that fall has arrived, and we go out into the garden to see how the plants are doing. The bean vines have climbed up their trellises until they are taller than we are. The corn too is tall and "reaching the sky" with pumpkins growing beneath "lumpy and fat." Indeed, everywhere you look something is growing. There are beets and eggplants, apples and all kinds of other fruits and vegetables.
Best of all when the harvest is over, we can "give thanks" for the bounty of the land. We can also enjoy the fruits of our labors by drinking apple cider, eating apple pie and feasting our eyes on the rows of canned goods which we will be able to eat all winter long.
Children who have not had the pleasure of experiencing a farm harvest will greatly enjoy this portrait of harvest time on a working farm. The author has created a delightfully simple rhyming text which is full of imagery and which is perfectly complimented by the vibrant full page pastel illustrations. The artwork is especially effective because the artist shows the bounty of the farm from many differing aspects. This is the perfect title to share with a child during the harvest season.
