Apples for Everyone (Picture the Seasons)
Though they have little to do with the science behind the planet’s changing seasons, the new titles in the Picture the Seasons series do a fabulous job of conjuring up the sights, smells, and sensations of a brisk autumn. Using minimal text with National Geographic’s typically fine photographs, Esbaum brings out familiar, comforting details of the outdoors—and slips in a lesson or two so skillfully readers won’t even mind. Apples for Everyone starts small with extreme close-ups of buds and bees before wowing with wide shots of apple-strewn orchards and massive buckets of fruit. The writing flows with sensory details (“Your teeth sink in—crunch!—and tart-sweet juice dribbles down your chin”) and works in bits of history, such as the story of Johnny Appleseed. Fun, cozy, evocative stuff Grades K-2. --Daniel Kraus