Apple pie picnic

Conceptually cumulative lines featuring italicized Spanish terms center a family's apple tree and the relationships it supports across several seasons: "This is the apple tree, el manzano, that grows near the house where Rosa lives." Opening with springtime scenes of blossoms and bees ("These are the bees, las abejas,/ that buzz from flower to flower") and building throughout the year, spreads show animals scurrying, Rosa watching the blooms turn to fruit, and the Latinx-cued family eventually harvesting the apples ("red, ripe, and ready") for a pie before autumn ushers in winter. Rough-edged digital-style renderings capture seasonal activities anchored around the hardwood: birds build a nest amid flat-colored leaves; Rosa sits in a branch crook surrounded by fruit. It's a sunny pastoral portrait of natural bounty and intergenerational love. Back matter includes a bilingual glossary and an applesauce recipe. Ages 4--8. (Mar.)

In this cumulative tale, an apple tree that stands near the house where Rosa lives marks the passing of seasons and the flitting of critters. Amid a wide patch of grass sits the apple tree, or el manzano, receiving the sun near a squat home adorned with a red roof. The rain, or la lluvia, sustains the tree, and the birds, or los pájaros, piece together a nest in the tree. Rosa's cat, Dulce, and dog, Churro, cause mischief around the apple tree while bees pollinate the blossoms, which will bloom into small apples that will cling "from branch to branch." Establishing a deliberate pace from the first line and writing in verse similar to "The House That Jack Built," Duran chronicles the journey of an apple from flower to fruit with a modest dose of critter-based humor. The author scatters one-word, italicized Spanish translations of key words throughout that prove to be occasional distractions. Fitzgerald's scruffy artwork replicates the precise rustic sensibility evoked by the text. Lush greens, dabs of oranges and reds, and glimpses of earthy browns combine into portraits of rural serenity. When the apples appear ready to be plucked from the apple tree, Rosa and her family, depicted in varying shades of brown and cued as Latine, gather to bake an apple pie for a picnic that everyone can join. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A charming slice of cheer. (translation of Spanish words, recipe for applesauce) (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.