Customer Reviews

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 (Golden Kite Awards)

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I'm a second grade teacher and I love to use picture books in the classroom. What a find this is! With hilarious illustrations, it also covers all the bases -- apples, the Oregon trail, and a great story based (loosely) on real events, besides. I love the Apple Facts on the back cover. A great book!

So I was doing my usual Thursday storytime (as is my librarianly duty) to a group of open-mouthed red-cheeked youngsters when I happened to ask if any of them knew what a tall tale was. You could have heard a pin drop. Now there were roughly ten or so children ranging in age from nine to toddlerhood and amongst these not a single child (that would admit it) knew that great family friendly and thoroughly American art of over exaggeration. I was sorely aggrieved but read from Anne Isaac's marvelous, "Swamp Angel" and felt much better in the end. Since that time, I have come to the conclusion that it is the duty of every good honest citizen of our fair Etas Unis that writes for children to make at least one tall taleish picture book in their lifetime. So far, there are plenty of writer/illustrators out there shirking their duties, but Deborah Hopkinson and Nancy Carpenter are not among them. Between the two of them they've concocted a rip-roaring, snorting, fit to be tied narrative based on true events and spun into utter silliness and fantasy. The result is the fun freewheeling, "Apples To Oregon", and after reading it your tots may well want to make the trip themselves.

Delicious and her daddy are two of a kind. They both love their beautiful Iowan fruit orchard. And they'd give everything they have to preserve and protect those awesomely tasty trees. So when Delicious's daddy decides that the family should pull up stakes and head for Oregon, it's only natural that the trees should come along with. Trouble is, it's hard enough to get a family the size of Delicious's across the plains (there are eight or so children), let alone finicky fruit bearers. But her daddy's determined, so off go Delicious, her mother, father, and seven siblings to make it to Oregon. Along the way they ford a mighty river using only their feet, battle a mighty windstorm, are saved of thirst by finding water filled boots, and finally engage in combat with the sneaky low down Jack Frost himself. By the end, Oregon has its trees and Delicious has a new home to settle in.

Hopkinson writes in an easygoing drawl that doesn't try too hard or rely on an abundance of silly cliches. And the various adventures visited upon the clan are silly but never too frightening or woeful. The fact that Delicious's father seems to care more for his trees than his children is a bit off-putting. And I can definitely see various children reading this story and getting ticked at his callousness. But if you take it for what it's worth, the rest of the reading is easy going. Hopkinson even includes in her Author's Note some information on the man this tale was loosely based on. It may certain interest adults to know that as a result of 1847's Henderson Luelling, Oregon remains one of the finest fruit producers in the continental United States.

As for illustrator Nancy Carpenter, she's given the pictures here a nice feel. You jump in sympathy as you see the poor kids leap through the sand without their boots (and you can't help but curse their lazy father who is not only booted but riding a horse... some Pop he is!). You cringe as Jack Frost's hand reaches to get past clever Delicious, ever watchful at her post. The pictures here are a sweet compliment to a nice story.

I don't know if I can say that this is the best tall tale book out there. But it is nice to see how the hero in this particular case is an entire family and not just one single striking individual. As I've noted, I've some problems with Delicious's father's misplaced loyalties, but otherwise this is a nice enough book and should make a fun storytime of its own. For anyone who's ever wanted to interest their very young offspring in the Oregon Trail, this might be a great way to spark interest at an early age.

This is the vegan version of "Oregon Trail," an ancient computer game that was once -played on the Apple IIe, and featured "blam-blam" cheesy sounds as you gunned down moose, dear, and bear. Here, there's no fishing or hunting, but you follow the same trail past Chimney and Courthouse Rock, ford a river, climb the Rockies, and raft down the Columbia River to Oregon. Although I wondered the book violated any copyright laws, all resemblance to the "Oregon Trail" ends there.

Unlike the game, there's no dysentery, crooked traders, stampeding animals, or cranky settlers. Instead, a plucky family travels from Iowa to Oregon with a gigantic wagon holding a holding a whole orchard of fruit trees: Apples, plums, cherries, pears, and peaches. The book is more enjoyable than I expected, given its resemblance to the game, mostly because of the colorful girl, "Delicious," who narrates the story, and the sometimes silly obsession of her fruit-minded father. When "Delicious" (at least her father didn't name her "Gravenstein") alerts us "Daddy was ready for the most daring adventure in the history of fruit," you know you're in for a clever and exciting tall tale.

On the way to Oregon, the family encounters nasty skeptical fellow travelers, weather changes, and natural obstacles. They build a raft and start paddling the Platte River, the "muddy drink started to pull us down":

"'The peaches are plummeting!' my sisters shouted."
"'The plums are plunging,' boomed my brother."
"'Don't let my babies go belly-up!" howled Daddy.

Apparently, Daddy's has unbounded concern for the apples of his eye...and he also loves his kids. Delicious, who knows that children raised on apples are "mighty strong" (there's lots of "Western" dialect festooning these pages), gets her sibs to kick off their shoes and kick their feet against the Platte. Later, a windstorm strikes, half-denuding the family (sure to get some laughs from the younger set), and eliciting another cry from Daddy (always in big, bold font):

"Guard the grapes! Protect the peaches!"

The persistent, albeit slightly goofy Daddy, is shown on a great two-page spread resembling the Disneyland diorama of the Grand Canyon. The family is hauling the wagon up about a 50 degree incline, an impossible task, of course, while the unvanquished Daddy announces, "just a hundred miles to go." In one of many colorful illustrations, Delicious-looking more and more like a young pioneer woman, fights a wispy Jack Frost with a bonfire and a blanket. Very soon, "that low-down scoundrel was hightailing it out of there, heading straight for Walla, Washington. Delicious stands tall and proud. The illustrations slightly recall those of Patricia Polacco with their emphasis on people's faces and long exaggerated lines, although they're not quite as loopy and personal as Polacco's.

The books concludes with a successful orchard planting in Oregon, just as in the true story of the parents and their eight children who brought the first apple trees from Iowa to Oregon in 1847. Delicious, easily the most appealing and emotionally satisfying character in the book is last seen high up in an apple tree, munching away and pondering the Gold Rush that that began shortly after their trip. All those fruit trees, she says "made us richer than any prospector. We were happier, too. After all, apples taste a whole lot better than gold."

This story has so much going for it: delightful phrasing, conflict, humor, and a satisfying ending.

I love that the story is told from a child's perspective. "Delicious" truly saves the day. Isn't that the dream of every child? ;-)

The illustrations are the cherry on this story sundae. They're colorful, fun and engaging. Yum!

This book is one of my very favorite children's books. This one shipped very quickly and was in great condition, as promised. Very pleased!

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.