All Things Kid Lit: Applesauce Season

Pick of the Week:

Applesauce Season
by Eden Ross Lipson
illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein
Roaring Brook, October 2009
40 pages
Picture book





 A young boy lives in the city, but that doesn’t prevent him from enjoying “applesauce season” right after school starts. His family buys six pounds of apples, “because that’s just how much our saucepot holds.” Using at least three kinds of apples in each pot “for real flavor,” their applesauce is different every week.
 

Summary from New York Times:

Narrated by a young boy, “Applesauce Season,” by Eden Ross Lipson, unfolds as an artful blend of family ritual and recipe, with members of three generations of urban homebodies and apple fanciers taking part in a seasonal rite that leads from farmers’ market to stove top to dining room table. At the center of it all is the narrator’s doughty, discerning grandmother, the family elder whose unfussy reverence for a job well done transforms an old-fashioned quest for a taste of the fruits of the fall harvest into something more: a glimpse of the examined life.

Read Alikes:

• Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson
• The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven
• The Apple-pip Princess by Jane Ray
• Apples for Everyone by Jill Esbaum

Top News in Children's Lit This Week:

Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies

October 7, 2009

ABC News

Julie Andrews, of "Mary Poppins" fame, and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, offer their most loved poems, songs and lullabies in this varied collection. James McMullan's watercolor paintings add color to the volume of 150 works. Find classics and new favorites from Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Shel Silverstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein and others.

In Today's Picture Books, The Kids Are In Charge

October 19, 2009
The New Yorker

In this confrontation-averse age of parenting, in which the “escalation” of emotions is considered a mark of failure, a favorite way of inculcating discipline is the reading of picture books. The language of a good children’s story is precise and consistent, offering a genial way for parents to address misbehavior.