The Apple Doll [Hardcover]

Elisa Kleven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2007 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Lizzy loves the big apple tree in her yard more than anything. So when the first day of school comes, she picks a beautiful apple, turns it into a makeshift doll she names Susanna, and takes it along to keep her company. But her teacher tells her that dolls aren't allowed at school. Even worse, her sister says that Susanna won't last forever. Then Lizzy's mom shows her a way to turn Susanna into a real apple doll. And with the help of Susanna the Apple Doll, Lizzy overcomes her shyness at school and makes plenty of new friends to bring home to play in her beloved apple tree.
 
Detailed, delightful collage illustrations accompany this sweet story about one girl's success in bringing together her home world and her school world. Instructions for making an apple doll just like Susanna are included!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Through every season, Lizzy loves the apple tree outside her window. On her first day of school, she uses it to create a new friend to take along with her: Susanna, a doll with an apple for a head and twigs for its body. When children make fun of Susanna, Lizzy leaves her at home for a while. Lizzy's mother shows her how to make Susanna into an apple-head doll by peeling the fruit, carving her features, preserving her with lemon juice, and letting her smiling face wrinkle as it dries. Newly aged but rejuvenated, Susanna accompanies Lizzy to school again and becomes the model for a class craft project. A plot summary does little to re-create the charm of this delightfully well-written picture book. Like the first illustration of the apple tree, where Lizzy lies happily on a branch surrounded by birds, cats, and squirrels, the pictures teem with life and intriguing details, but have at their heart the clear expression of the characters' emotions. Created in mixed media with collage elements, the illustrations vary in size and complexity, from small winsome vignettes to detailed, double-page spreads that carry the eye from the main character to the outskirts of her neighborhood. For children, parents, and teachers inspired by this inviting picture book who want to make their own apple dolls, Kleven appends instructions. Phelan, Carolyn

Review

“Kleven provides detailed instructions for parents and children to craft friends of their own to conquer heading-to-school fears.”—Publishers Weekly

 

“A plot summary does little to recreate the charm of this well-written picture book.” —Starred, Booklist

 

“A sweet story about accepting change, working together, and forming new friendships.”—School Library Journal

 

“Bright, textured and bold.”—Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); First Edition edition (July 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374303800
• ISBN-13: 978-0374303808
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #681,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another charmer from Elisa Kleven!, August 14, 2007

By 

M. Twain "rapacious reader" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Apple Doll (Hardcover)

I love all of Kleven's books, but this is one of my favorites. The art is airy and charming, warm and reassuring, and the story is a real gem. Lizzy makes her own friend (literally) using an apple from her beloved apple tree and it's this apple doll that helps her make real friends as she starts kindergarten. It's a creative way to reassure children that they have inside them what it takes to handle strange, new situations. And the book even includes directions for how to make your own apple doll. An inspiring, lovely story!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is just utterly beautiful, October 26, 2007

By 

Mollie Katzen (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Apple Doll (Hardcover)

I am entrhalled by Elisa's Kelven's newest book in ways similar to, but streching beyond, my response to her classic, The Paper Princess (a book I couldn't once read aloud to my daughter without breaking into tears). I don't want to say Elisa has outdone herself (that's the weirdest phrase, isn't i?) but something along the lines of: she's hit the same magical & emotional sweet spot, this time with layers and layers (agricultural literacy, psychological complexity, creative empowerment) surrounding and infusing the story. And I love the bonus arts & crafts project at the end. The embedded message of respect for the beauty and wisdom of Elder Women (so painfully rare) was not lost on me, either. Many kudos and much gratitude to this highly original and intensely gifted storyteller/artist! I can only imagne how this will ripen over time (no play on the agriculture theme intended) for the children who will get to grow up with this book as part of their iconic psychological and aesthetic vocabulary.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Apple Doll, August 29, 2007

By 

Kirsten G. Cutler (Santa Rosa, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Apple Doll (Hardcover)

Kleven, Elisa, The Apple Doll, Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007

Lizzie loves her apple tree where she often lies on a branch contently alone except for some birds and squirrels. She watches the tree change through the seasons, pretending that her tree is "a skeleton rattling in the autumn" a gingerbread cake with snowy frosting during winter, "a blossomy springtime cloud" and "a leafy summer circus"; charming vignettes show her eating snow in winter, and swinging upside down on a branch of the tree in summer. Soon however, it is her first day of school and Lizzie worries about whether she will make friends, Her sister tells her that she pretends too much and that school will be good for her because she can "make some real friends". Before starting off for school, Lizzie climbs up in her tree and picks her favorite apple, "round as a ball, warm as the sunlight-too happy to pack in her lunch box" and whispers to her apple that she has named Susanna that she is scared about going to school. She gives her apple a twig body and carries her apple doll to school but her teacher tells her to put her apple away until lunchtime and then her classmates tease her: one says, "Why don't you play with a real doll?" When Lizzie arrives home that first day, she gives Susanna yarn hair, dresses her in fabric and lace, gives her toys to play with and tells her that she does not have to go to school anymore. Lizzie who must return to school sits by herself in the playground and feels very lonely. A little girl stares at her as she eats her lunch all by herself. When the apple doll begins to deteriorate, Lizzie dries her; now Lizzie's doll has a wrinkled face atop a pipe cleaner body, and is dressed in fabric and lace. When Lizzie shares her new and improved doll at show and tell, her classmates wish that they too had an apple doll, "she looks alive," says one child. Lizzy teaches her classmates how to make an apple doll and soon all the children are playing with their own and Lizzie has many new friends. The warm colorful mixed media illustrations both folksy and fanciful are filled with realistic action and reveal much interesting detail. In her usual inimitable cozy style, Kleven floods her scenes with birds, squirrels, and cats; one lady is shown feeding her chickens and deer and sheep feed on lush green pastures. One double spread shows Lizzie marching off to school holding hands with her sister as her mother waves goodbye; another shows multicultural children playing jump rope, swinging, chasing each other and playing hopscotch. Red, yellow and green apples appear on the inside of the front cover, and apple dolls dance on the inside of the back cover. This lovely reassuring picture book is perfect for a parent to share with a preschool child because together they can enjoy the visual feast.