Dappled Apples - Softcover

Jan Carr has written several books for adults and children including "Frozen Noses" & "Splish, Splash, Spring," & "Swine Divine," illustrated by Robert Bender, Dark Day, Light Night, illustrated by James Ransome, and The Nature of the Best, illustrated by G. Brian Karas. In springtime, she especially loves to bring home big, fragrant bunches of lilacs and to smell the earthy scent in the air. She lives with her family in New York City.

Dorothy Donohue grew up making paper Valentines for her friends and family and returned to paper cutouts while working on her first book. She lives in Colorado with her husband and their dogs.

K-Gr 2-An overly sweet celebration of fall, told in rhyme. The book opens with images of leaves ("Flutter, flitter/Gold as glitter/Colors crackle/Round the tree") and takes readers through all of the hallmarks of the season, ending with trick-or-treating: "Evil fairy/Yikes! She's scary!/Patched-up pirate/Who is he?" Donohue's bright collages were created with "handmade cut paper that was layered and crumpled to achieve texture and dimension." This technique results in an almost 3-D effect, with vividly colored pumpkins, scarecrows, and costumed children that seem to step right out of the pages. Unfortunately, the text doesn't say much or offer anything new given the myriad picture books about the season. Librarians and teachers will be better off with the fall poems in John Updike's A Child's Calendar (Holiday, 2001).

Shara Alpern, The Free Library of Philadelphia

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