Customer Reviews

How Do Apples Grow? (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Betsy Maestro has done it again! Her book about how apples grow is both informative and fun to read. Students will be captivated by the story and the pictures. This book is a must have for all classrooms!

I purchased this with the hope that I would be able to use the pictures for discussion about apples with the preschoolers that I teach. The illustrations are wonderful but are truly geared toward an early elementary school level science curriculum. A better choice for my age level children was The Season's of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons in which a little boy interacts with a tree throughout the seasons of the year.

I read this book many times with my kids when they were younger and learned a lot myself in the meantime. The material is well presented and clear, but has a lot of details that explains the change from flower to fruit. It was fun after reading to look at apple trees in different stages of the year and see the fruits growing, understanding how it all happened. A must for homeschool science!

This book describes the way an apple grows on a tree, from the tiny leaf buds that exist in winter, to flowers blooming while bees pollinate them, through the time the apple ripens and is harvested. The text gives carefully detailed descriptions of how the fruit develops without being wordy, and children who like to understand how things work will appreciate the straightforward way these facts are presented. Like most of the books in this series, the illustrations are pretty average, but when apple harvest rolls around this is a great book to have in the reading basket. While the general concept of an apple growing from a flower will be understood by preschoolers, it is targeted toward primary school ages.

Reason for Reading: Ds read aloud to me as his reader.

This series is perfect for basic introductions to science topics. Told simply, but with enough detail to present the topic thoroughly. The text is written in a narrative voice that is friendly while being informative. The pictures illustrate diagrams with lines pointing to certain parts being discussed and throughout the story the same orchard and family are featured. A perfect combination of text and illustrations make this an enjoyable and understandable read for all. This husband & wife team always produce excellent non-fiction children's books together. You can't go wrong when you mix The Maestros with the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science" series.

I purchased this book to supplement what my school library had for my recent "Apple Theme" week. The pictures were really good & although I had to skip some of the text for my students (Special Ed 3,4 & 5 year olds) they seemed to enjoy hearing about it. From looking at the pictures we got some good ideas for apple "projects" we could do at school (painting pictures of the inside (white) and outside (red) of apples), cutting apples apart - both horizontally & vertically so they could see, first-hand, the arrangement of the seeds & making apple prints of this, etc. A really good (non-fiction) addition for my apple theme week.