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A taste of fall: Celebrated editor Eden Lipson and Caldecott Medal winner Mordicai Gerstein celebrate a fall family ritual in Applesauce Season, a picture book rich with the colors and flavors of the season. When the first apples of the season--Ida Red and Paula Red, Twenty Ounce, McIntosh, and Ginger Gold--show up in the city markets, its time to take out the big pot and make applesauce. A lovingly recounted description of a familys applesauce-making ritual describes the buying, peeling, cooking and stirring; the wait for the sauce to cool and the first taste. Mordicai Gersteins paintings are full of the colors and flavors of the season: red apples, orange leaves, blue skies. Heres a lovely picture book celebrating an American family tradition. Read more Continue reading Read less FROM SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL PreSchool-Grade 2 - Urban meets bucolic in this charming family story that is narrated by a familys youngest child. "We live in the city. There are no apple trees, but there are farmers markets where there are lots of apples." Thats where the boy and his grandmother shop. They choose the fruit, wash it, cut it up, cook it, and finally run it through the food mill. Then comes the eating, " ... plain, or with ice cream, or cottage cheese, or gingerbread, or cookies, or sliced bananas." This is not a long book but its filled with enticing details. Even the names of the varieties are fun: Black Twig, King David, Northern Spy. A celebration of family ritual and slow foods, the story is in the best tradition of "show, dont tell." Gersteins colorful paintings are edged with dynamic scratchy lines that convey a lively sense of movement. His sly humor is a perfect match for the straightforward narrative, which ends with a recipe and a glimpse into the boys sunny future-full of apples, of course. - Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL END REVIEW "[A] smartly observed, warm-hearted tale . . . . Happily there is more than enough for seconds." -- The New York Times Book Review "The angle of Dads shoulders as he squeezes between everyone to reach in with his spoon is one of those brilliant details in a childrens book that conveys the warmth of family." -- Newsday "Exuberant watercolors follow along as a happy urban family buys, quarters, cooks, seasons, purees and savors the thick gooey stuff. Get out the food mill. " -- The San Francisco Chronicle "His [Gersteins] sly humor is a perfect match for the straightforward narrative, which ends with a recipe and a glimpse into the boys sunny future-full of apples, of course." -- School Library Journal "The final page includes a detailed recipe and an illustration of the boy, now a dad, in the kitchen cutting apples with his daughter, sharing a smile." -- Horn Book "In a crowded orchard of apple books, this one stands out." -- Kirkus Reviews "A wonderful tribute to her [Eden Ross Lipson] considerable contributions and talents." -- Starred, Publishers Weekly "A wonderful story of apples, applesauce and family traditions." -- Infodad.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR Eden Ross Lipson was childrens book editor of The New York Times Book Review until 2005, and is the author of the authoritative New York Times Parents Guide to the Best Books for Children. Mordicai Gerstein is the author and illustrator of The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, winner of the Caldecott Medal, and has had four books named New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year. Gerstein was born in Los Angeles in 1935. He remembers being inspired as a child by images of fine art, which his mother cut out of Life magazine, and by childrens books from the library: "I looked at Rembrandt and Superman, Matisse and Bugs Bunny, and began to make my own pictures." He attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and then got a job in an animated cartoon studio that sent him to New York, where he designed characters and thought up ideas for TV commercials. When a writer named Elizabeth Levy asked him to illustrate a humorous mystery story about two girls and a dog, his book career began, and soon he moved on to writing as well as illustrating. "Im still surprised to be an author," he says. "I wonder what Ill write next?" Gerstein lives in Westhampton, Massachusetts. Read more Continue reading Read less