All Aboard Science Reader Station Stop 1 Apples: And How They Grow [Mass Market Paperback]

Laura Driscoll (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: All Aboard Science Reader

Now kids can learn all about this delicious fruit-from grafting young apple trees to the transformation from apple blossom to full-grown apple! With clear, simple text and bright, charming artwork, this Station Stop 1 easy reader is perfect for every kid who loves apples.

Illustrated by Tammy Smith.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

K-Gr. 1. Part of the All Aboard Science Readers series, this simple book includes the familiar account of kids picking yummy apples off trees that have grown from tiny seeds. But there's more. Not all the apples are the same. There are many kinds, and sometimes the seeds "play tricks." A seed from a Rome apple may produce a tree that bears sour apples--or has no apples at all. Then the apple-grower uses his trick; he grafts a branch from the tree onto a sapling, which grows and eventually bears yummy, crunchy Rome apples. The surprising twist adds to the story of seed growth, making this an exciting way to bring botany to beginning readers. An outline of the basics that opens up questions. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap (September 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0448432757
• ISBN-13: 978-0448432755
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,345,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Botany

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars cute book, January 27, 2012

By 

MamaRip "Lacy R" (Bloomington, IL, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: All Aboard Science Reader Station Stop 1 Apples: And How They Grow (Mass Market Paperback)

This is cute. It's pretty detailed in the life cycle of an apple tree. I should have checked it out from the library, though. It's not one of those books we just continue to go back to over and over.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Early Reader Book, February 13, 2008

By 

PK (South Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Aboard Science Reader Station Stop 1 Apples: And How They Grow (Mass Market Paperback)

My first grader brought this book home from school. She is working on reading comprehension and the simple facts were fun without being overwhelming. Perfect for the struggling reader.

1.0 out of 5 stars Story boring but harmless, artwork inaccurate and ugly, December 15, 2007

By 

Miss Z.'s Mama (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Aboard Science Reader Station Stop 1 Apples: And How They Grow (Mass Market Paperback)

One doesn't expect much from a commodity early-reading book, but this one is much worse than you'd think. The text is focused on what the author apparently feels to be the most important fact to know about apples---that they don't grow true from seed. It spends nearly half the text discussing the process of grafting, without actually using the word "grafting" or explaining how it works. ("He joins a branch to it" is the full Genesis-esque explanation.) Kid-friendly topics that would fit well into the story of how an apple grows (the role of sun, water, fertilizer, pollination by bees) are missing. All in all, it's not a very interesting story.

It is the artwork, however, that makes this a truly bad book. Although this is labeled as a "science" reader, the illustrations contain multiple inexcusable inaccuracies. For example, apple seeds are shown randomly distributed inside the apple like raisins in oatmeal (see the cover!). The transition of apple blossoms to apples shows the pink flower shrinking for three frames, then suddenly turning into a tiny red apple. Here the heavy reliance on computer clip art leads to direct disagreement with the text; the apple growing "rounder and redder" is illustrated with the same clip-art apple in sizes small, medium and large. (The same technique is used several places for a mama and baby duck, resulting in a bright-yellow "adult" duck.) Finally, although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to my eye the drawings are just plain ugly.

I can't heap too much blame on the artist; this is clearly a work-for-hire, and instead I fault the editor. This is labeled as a "science" book, and it doesn't take much scientific knowledge to realize that the "artistic license" invoked for the apple seeds, apple development, and duck family pictures is not suitable under that label.

Postscript: we received this as a gift from my frail grandmother for our two-year old daughter. She knew it was inappropriate when she bought it, but she'd been so overwhelmed by the Borders children's department that she grabbed things that didn't seem too horrible from the nearest shelf and left. "Where are the kind of books that I read my children? Don't they have classics anymore? Is there a mail-order catalog I could use for gifts?"

I blame the publishers. With these early-reading series, they're looking for easy money from insecure middle-class parents focused on academic achievement. At least I've learned that I'll never need to buy another book of this type again, which should simplify my own Borders (and Amazon) visits.