Apples!

Farmer, Jacqueline. 2007. Apples. Illustrated by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes.

I want to say this at the very beginning. I love, love, love this book. Apples had me at hello. Well, almost hello. I was hooked almost from the very beginning. Oddly mesmerized by the I-didn't-know-that-facts and charmed by the colorful illustrations.

Here are just a few of the I-didn't-know-that facts that had me eager for more:

*Along with many other fruits, apples are members of the rose family of plants. (3)
*In order for an apple to grow, pollen from a different variety of apple tree must fertilize the flower. (8)
*It takes fifty leaves to feed one apple. [To feed the apple the sugar it needs to grow] (12)
* Most apple historians believe that sweet apples were first cultivated in Southeast and Central Asia around 6500 BCE. (21)
*The Romans even had a goddess of fruit trees named Pomona. Today the science of growing apples and other fruit is called pomology. (22)
*The Greeks believed the apple represented love and beauty. In ancient Greece tossing an apple to a girl was a marriage proposal. If she caught it the answer was yes! (23)
*October is National Apple Month (30)
*Twenty-five percent of an apple's volume is air. That is why it floats. (30)
*China grows 41 percent of all apples, making it the leading producer of apples in the world. (30)

Every aspect of the apple is covered here--scientifically, historically, socially, etc. The book even includes a two page spread of the varieties of apples and a recipe for apple pie. There is so much information here. And it's presented in an organized and enjoyable way.