Apples to Oregon: Being the (Slightly) True Narrative of How a Brave Pioneer Father Brought Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Grapes, and Cherries (and Children) Across the Plains (Paperback)

by Deborah Hopkinson (Author), Nancy Carpenter (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Publishers Weekly, starred reviewPrepared to perfection and served up with style, this historical nugget imagines an interlude in the life of cookbook pioneer Fannie Farmer.

New York Times Book ReviewCharming...clever...deliciously subversive, [it] yields new treats with every reading.

Booklist, starred review[A] delightfully humorous story about cooking and personal achievement.

Philadelphia InquirerA happy combination of text and art.

School Library Journal, starred reviewA whimsical look back to when it all began.

Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewDelicious!

Product Description
Apples, ho!

When Papa decides to pull up roots and move from Iowa to Oregon, he can't bear to leave his precious apple trees behind. Or his peaches, plums, grapes, cherries, and pears. Oh, and he takes his family along too. But the trail is cruel -- first there's a river to cross that's wider than Texas...and then there are hailstones as big as plums...and there's even a drought, sure to crisp the cherries. Those poor pippins! Luckily Delicious (the nonedible apple of Daddy's eye) is strong -- as young 'uns raised on apples are -- and won't let anything stop her father's darling saps from tasting the sweet Oregon soil.

Here's a hilarious tall tale -- from the team that brought you Fannie in the Kitchen -- that's loosely based on the life of a real fruiting pioneer.

Apple Facts

More than 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.

About 2,500 varieties grow in the United States.

The apple variety Delicious is the most widely grown in the United States.

Apples are part of the rose family.

The science of fruit growing is called pomology.

Fresh apples float. That's because 25 percent of their volume is air.

Cut an apple in half, across the core, and you'll see a star shape.

It takes apple trees four to five years to produce their first fruit.

It takes about thirty-six apples to make one gallon of apple cider.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin; Reprint edition (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141696746X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416967460
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #174,940 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tall tale, fun to read, December 23, 2008

By	Karen G. "Dazieblue" (Middle Tennessee) - See all my reviews

My two-year-old wasn't particularly interested in this book, but my four-year-old loved it. The story is loosely based on the story of a pioneer man's journey to move are great number of fruit trees and his large family to Oregon. It is told from the first-person viewpoint of one of his daughters, who uses rich and folksy imagery to humorously convey the many hardships suffered (mostly by the fruit trees) on the trail. Reading the book aloud makes me inadvertently speak with a Southern accent.

Tall tales are a great way to introduce exaggeration and humor in literature, and is a genre that pre-schoolers and school-age children tend to appreciate.