Even though we are still in the midst of the dog days of summer, my children are back in school, and my thoughts are drifting to my favorite season, Autumn.
Fortunately for me, apple-picking season has begun which means I don’t have to wait to start enjoying my favorite fall flavor (sorry, pumpkin spice lovers). But before my family heads out to the nearest apple orchard and farmer’s market, we’re going to have a few storytimes dedicated to apple-picking season. Here are some picture books that have made my list.
1. How to Grow an Apple Pie
By Beth Charles
Much like Sophie in the book, my little girl gets extra excited about dessert. And also like Sophie, she loves to help bake in the kitchen. However, before Sophie can enjoy a slice of apple pie, readers will join her as she learns where apples come from and how to bake a pie.
2. Apple Farmer Annie
By Monica Wellington
Apple Farmer Annie has a little bit of something for everyone. My little ones get to practice their counting and sorting. I get a few simple apple recipes to add to my repertoire. It’s a yummy adventure from picking apples to selling them at a farmer’s market!
3. One Green Apple
By Eve Bunting
Sometimes the lesson we learn at an apple orchard isn’t just about the apples, as is the case in One Green Apple. A field trip to an apple orchard turns into a lesson in connection and belonging. Farah is new to her school, the country, and the language her classmates speak. While helping her classmates make cider, she learns that her green apple goes along well with her classmates’ red apples.
4. The Apple Orchard Riddle
By Margaret McNamara
My son is mostly non-verbal. His first couple of years of school were a struggle until his IEP team changed to include adults whose approach to working with him helped him to flourish and knock out his goals. The Apple Orchard Riddle makes the list because it not only teaches about apple harvesting, making cider, and different types of apples, but different ways of learning as well.
5. Tucker’s Apple-Dandy Day
By Susan Winget
In Tucker’s Apple-Dandy Day, Tucker is tasked with bringing home apples from his field trip to the apple orchard. After a series of distractions, Tucker finds himself without apples when it’s time to go. It’s a sweet story for younger children (Tucker is in kindergarten) about helping friends.
6. From Apple Trees to Cider, Please!
By Felicia Sanzari Chernesky
I love apple cider! I mean fresh, in-season apple cider that disappears right before eggnog starts taking up shelf space in the grocery store. From Apple Trees to Cider, Please! is a rhyming book that takes readers through the apple cider-making process. In fact, it inspired me to make my family’s Halloween treat this year to be traditional apple cider and doughnuts.
7. Applesauce Day
By Lisa Amstutz
Thinking about applesauce takes me back to the days when my kids were babies and ate it like it was a gourmet food. Nowadays, they could take it or leave it, but it is still a staple in our home. I use it to doctor box cake mixes, and my husband sometimes uses it in smoothies.
So, it would be great to learn how to make our own like the family in Applesauce Day. From picking their own apples in an orchard to homemade applesauce, readers join Maria and her family each step along the way.
8. How Do Apples Grow?
By Jill McDonald
This board book breaks down how apples go from being a seed to applesauce in a way that your toddler can enjoy. It’s an easy read with bright and colorful pictures.
9. Apples, Apples, Apples
By Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Apples, Apples, Apples is loaded with fun facts about apples and learning activities. Join Minna and her family as they learn from Farmer Miller about all things apple. The illustrations are colorful and detailed in a way that is easy for your preschooler to follow.
10. Apple Picking Day!
By Candice Ransom
Why not let your beginner reader take over storytime? With easy words and rhymes in big type, your burgeoning reader can follow along to this simple story of a family visiting an apple orchard.
What books would you add to this list?
