Who's Got the Apple?

Who's Got the Apple?
Jan Lööf ~ translated and adapted by Ole Risom and Linda Hayward
Random House, 1975

Now that I'm on a roll... one last nod to the Swede Jan Lööf and then I'm done (at least for now). This week is our "Race to Read" at school, a program that I find kinda nice and kinda obnoxious. Kind of obnoxious because it sorta sucks the fun out of reading by making it competitive, and as this is kindergarten, the actual race depends more on parent participation that on that of the child, bringing attention to the kid whose parent doesn't even bother to read the paperwork and ends up with not a book on her/his list. And kinda fun, because, hey, we are read all the time anyways. I'm unsure of the effect the contest has on a child in a non-reading family, but maybe it ups their game. Who knows? All I know is that this week, I've been strategically going through the shelves pulling out all the old favorites we haven't seen in a while and having a blast.

Which is completely unrelated to my post today as I'm just rambling. Ha!

Anywho... I have vague memories of Who's Got the Apple?, not that I owned it, but I'm sure it got my attention on one library/book store visit or another. Soooo, there's this guy in a swanky, black pinstriped suit who gets ripped off by a fruit salesman...

Since it was April Fools' Day, the storekeeper decided to play a joke. He gave the man a plastic green apple, telling him to let it ripen. Then the storekeeper went outside to see how his giant red apple was doing. He was sure it would win first frize at the county fair.

The man in the striped suit went home with his plastic green apple. He did not know that he had been fooled.

In possibly the ultimate karma story, one thing leads to another as after a bird, a cat, a little boy, a bank robber, a student, and a fireman chain-interact, the red apple ends up in the hands of its rightful owner. Very cool sequence of events, and again, I can't get enough of this illustration style... further fueling my new kids' book crush. Oh, and the boy loves it, too, but in this case, that might be beside the point.

Also by:
Uncle Louie's Fantastic Sea Voyage
My Grandpa is a Pirate

—————

Read along on Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and Etsy!