The Giant Apple

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3 --This is a picture book in folktale style about a village of dummkopfs, but readers may miss the point; the text is without wit or bounce. The citizens of Appleville always lose to the people of Beet Valley at the annual Harvest Festival. Resolutely, they decide to concentrate all their energy on growing a great big enormous apple, and win the best and biggest contest--only to be left eating applesauce, apple donuts, and apple fritters all winter. Eventually, they have to buy from the folks in Beet Valley the vegetables they should've been raising all along. The story is told in a straightforward and pedestrian manner, and falls flat. Brix-Henker's illustrations are in colored pencil and watercolor washes in shades of brown, green, and orange; they provide some of the humor missing in the text. Libraries looking for funny picture books on giant veggies will not find it here. Look instead to Westcott's The Giant Vegetable Garden (Little, 1981) and Tolstoy's The Great Big Enormous Turnip (Watts, 1968; o.p.). --Kay McPherson, Central Atlanta-Fulton Public Library