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One Green Apple

A newcomer to the United States, Farah joins classmates on a field trip to an apple orchard. She doesn’t speak English. “It’s not that I am stupid,” she wishes she could tell the teacher, who is instructing Farah through gestures and simple words to pick just one apple. Farah’s choice—a small, hard, green apple—is very different from the bright round red ones the other kids picked, just as Farah, who is Muslim and wears a head scarf, looks different from her classmates. But when they put their apples into a press, the cider comes out tasting sweet—as sweet as the first gestures of friendship Farah shares with one or two students in the class by the day’s end, and as sweet as the sound of her first English word: “app-ell.” “Soon I will know their words. I will blend with the others the way my apple blended with the cider.” The metaphor in Bunting’s story is obvious to adults but not to young children, who are drawn into the drama of this quiet narrative, illustrated by Ted-Lewin’s with light-filled paintings. Highly Commended, 2007 Charlotte Zolotow Award ©2007 Cooperative Children's Book Center

Illustrated by Ted Lewin

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 5-8
Age Range: PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7) Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format: Picture book
Subjects: English Language Learners Farming and Farmers Immigration and Immigrants Muslim People School
Diversity subject: Brown Skin Unspecified Muslim

Publisher: Clarion
Publish Year: 2006
Pages: 32
ISBN: 0618434771

CCBC Location: Picture Book, Bunting

One Green Apple