This satisfying tale celebrates not only apples but all the cozy trappings of fall. On a crisp, cool morning a family drives to the grandparents' "apple ranch," where they help with the harvest. Harvill (Jack and the Animals) captures the simple pleasures of this special visit in cut-paper collages, using different techniques to color the various papers. Characters' faces, for example, have drawn-on features, while the apples and the orchard emerge from lushly painted papers, with overlapping brushstrokes of varying greens, yellows, pinks and reds creating dimension and movement. Shapiro, owner of a California children's bookstore, ably conveys a sense of family togetherness and love, from the boy narrator who enjoys the warmth of his sister as she sleeps against his shoulder in the car, to the grandmother who proudly tells the customers, " 'These are the grandkids come to help.' She almost sings the words." Later, the family feasts on apple dumplings and dances to Grandpa's old jazz records, while the boy lies near the crackling fire, basking in the joy of "watching everyone being happy." Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
