Late summer and early fall mean apple season is here! Besides all the delicious yumminess, it’s a great time of year to include some apple themed learning with your kiddo’s. In our house, this always means reading some great children’s books about apples.
Here are 22 books that made our favourites:
Apple Books for Preschoolers
Here are some of our favourite apple stories for preschool and kindergarten aged children:
#1 Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship
by Edward Hemingway (Ages 3-5+)
My daughter and I really liked this story about the friendship of an apple named Mac and a worm named Will.
Mac and Will become the best of friends. But when the other apples see who Mac’s friend is, none of them will play with him. They even bully Mac and call him names like “Bad Apple” and “Rotten”.
Will feels bad and decides to leave Mac so he can be a good apple again.
Even tho the other apples will now play with Mac, Mac realizes that no one can replace his friend Will. So Mac decides he’d rather be a bad apple than a sad apple without his best friend.
#2 Bad Apple’s Perfect Day
by Edward Hemingway (Preschool – Grade 1)
A continuation in the friendship of these 2 unlikely friends.
Mac the apple and Will the worm are planning on having the perfect day at the watering hole.
But the day doesn’t go at all as planned. The positive thinking and creative ideas of these best friends make it a perfect day anyways.
#3 The Mouse’s Apples
by Frances Stickley (Ages 2-5)
A sweet and engaging read for my preschooler. The story, centered around a mouse who finds a bounty of apples, teaches sharing and kindness in a simple, relatable way.
The colorful illustrations and gentle rhymes kept my child captivated. She asked me to read the story to her again and again. A perfect addition to our fall reading list.
#4 Curious George Apple Harvest
by H. A. Rey (Ages 3-7)
Curious George fans will enjoy this one.
In this story, George accidentally starts an apple cider machine and learns how cider is made.
#5 Ten Apples Up On Top
by Dr. Seuss – written by Theo. LeSieg (Preschool – Grade 1)
A classic Dr. Seuss story for the younger ones.
Books About Picking Apples
Here are some of our favourite children’s books to read about apple picking:
#6 Apples, Apples, Apples
by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace (Preschool – Grade 2)
If you plan to go apple picking, this might be the perfect educational book to read beforehand.
It’s about a family of bunnies that takes a trip to an apple orchard. The farmer at the orchard teaches the family all about apples.
There’s a lot of apple learning packed into this story. I would say it’s more of an educational book, disguised as a story. The writing quality of the story is a bit on the simple side, but still a great book for any apple unit.
Kids will learn about apple varieties, how to pick an apple, the parts of an apple, growing an apple tree, Johnny Appleseed, a recipe for making apple sauce, and more.
#7 Pinkalicious: Apples, Apples, Apples!
by Victoria Kann (Ages 4-8)
A children’s book that didn’t disappoint!
Pinkalicious and her brother search through rows and rows of apple trees for an apple called the “Pink Lady”. She was so excited when she finally found it, that she picked way too many of them.
Oh the challenges of getting all those apples home! On top of that, what are they going to do with them all? There’s only so many fried apples, dried apples, diced apples, sliced apples, apple crumble, apple cake, apple sauce, apple cider, and apple ice-cream that one family can eat.
Pinkalicious comes up with ways to share her apples with the rest of Pinkville.
There are 40+ stickers included. About half of them are decent sized stickers, the other half are smaller.
#8 Apple Picking Day!
(Step Into Reading) by Candice Ransom
A book about picking apples for beginner readers.
The book has simple sentences with a lot of rhyming and colourful pictures. The font is large with limited words per page.
#9 Fancy Nancy: Apples Galore!
(I Can Read!) by Jane O’Connor
In this story, Nancy’s class goes on a field trip to an apple orchard.
A level 1 beginning reader, perfect for kids who are sounding out words.
Fancy Nancy books are great for teaching vocabulary. Some fancy vocabulary words are used in the story and always quickly explained.
#10 The Apple Orchard Riddle
by Margaret McNamara
The book is about a field trip to an apple orchard. The class learns how apples are harvested and stored and how apple cider is made.
It also teaches a lesson on how children can learn differently.
There’s a little girl in the class that is often found daydreaming and is usually the last one to get somewhere. At the beginning of the trip the teacher gives the class a riddle to solve. In the end it’s the little girl that solves the riddle.
A lesson that shows that just because some might not do things the way we would, we shouldn’t assume they are less smart or less in anyway.
I found the book a bit long myself, but I’ve added it to my list as I feel it is a good option for an educational apple themed story.
Children’s Books About Apple Pies
Here are some of our favourite apple pie books for children:
#11 How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
by Marjorie Ariceman
A cute and funny story about making an apple pie.
An apple pie is easy to make until the store is closed and you have to travel around the world to pick up all the ingredients.
There is an apple pie recipe included in the book. We’ve never tried it, but have made this delicious recipe for german apple pie instead.
For ages 3-7 but enjoyed by all ages. My 9 year old still enjoys it when I read it to her.
#12 Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie
by Herman Parish (Preschool – Grade 3)
Amelia Bedelia visits her grandparents.
She goes with her Granddad to get apples for Grandma’s apple pie. When they get back Grandma teaches Amelia how to bake an apple pie.
Amelia secretly make’s her own apple pie which ends up saving the day.
#13 The Apple Pie that Papa Baked
by Lauren Thompson
This would be a good story for the younger kids, toddler thru kindergarten.
My 9 year old did not like this book as it’s very repetitive, but I feel she would have enjoyed this book if she were a preschooler.
#14 The Apple Cake
by Nienke van Hichtum (Preschool – Grade 2)
A heartwarming story that would make a great read aloud.
It’s about an elderly woman that has everything she needs to make an apple cake, except apples.
She does have some plums tho, and sets off to see if she can trade those plums for some apples.
It’s a classic story of trading and is a wonderful example of how being kind is the best way.
#15 Annie the Apple Fairy
by Thomas Nelson (Preschool – Grade 2)
“Annie the Apple Pie Fairy” is a story of friendship. Its message is that bigger is not always better, but working together and friendship is of most value.
Annie is a TV chef that bakes apple pies.
But when the strudel fairy gets a new show and makes the most outlandish cakes and has the fanciest gadgets, Annie feels her position as the queen of pies is threatened.
Girls are sure to love this one!
Children’s Books About Johnny Appleseed
Learning about Johnny Appleseed? Here are 2 of our favourite Johnny Appleseed books for children:
#16 Who Was Johnny Appleseed?
by Joan Holub (Grades 3 – 7)
I highly recommend this chapter book.
It’s a good read while still being quite educational. Kids will get an in-depth look into the life of Johnny Appleseed.
My daughter and I both learned a lot and quite enjoyed this biography.
#17 Johnny Appleseed: My Story
(Step into Reading Step 3) by David L. Harrison (Preschool – Grade 3)
Children’s Books About Applesauce
Here are a some fun and educational books about making applesauce:
#18 Applesauce Day
by Lisa J Amstutz (Preschool – Grade 2)
There are beautiful pictures in this story about a family’s multi-generational tradition of making applesauce.
#19 Applesauce Season
by Eden Ross Lipson (Preschool – Grade 2)
This story also describes another family’s tradition of making applesauce.
In this story the family lives in the city and buys their apples from the local market.
There’s a recipe at the end of the book for making homemade applesauce.
Non Fiction Children’s Books About Apples
Here are 3 of our favourite educational non fiction books about apples:
#20 Hello, World! How Do Apples Grow?
by Jill McDonald (Ages 2-4)
A fantastic introduction to science and apples for toddlers. The simple language and vibrant illustrations explain the apple life cycle in a way that’s easy for little ones to understand.
Especially if you plan on going apple picking with your toddler, this would be a great book to read with them before you’re outing.
#21 Apples
by Gail Gibbons
This non fiction picture book discusses a bit about:
- apple history including Johnny Appleseed
- parts of an apple
- pollination
- life cycle of an apple through the seasons
- how to plant and care for an apple tree
- how an apple cider press works
- varieties of apples
- instructions for making an apple pie
#22 How Do Apples Grow?
by Betsy Maestro (Kindergarten – Grade 3)
The cover is not too fancy but don’t let that fool you. This little book packs in a lot of apple science.
It explains the life cycle of an apple tree throughout the seasons.
The book goes into detail on:
- the parts of the apple flower
- pollination and flower fertilization
- all the behind the scenes of how an apple becomes an apple.
It’s like the in-depth birds and the bees discussion for the apple.
Apple Book Activities
Looking for some apple learning activities or worksheets to complement an apple book? Here are some fun apple book activities for kids:
- apple activities for first grade that include a fun word search, crossword puzzles, a spelling game, and more
- these number bonds to 15 worksheets are apple themed math worksheets for 1st grade
- easy apple word search for kids around 2nd grade
- easy apple crossword puzzle that’s a fun spelling activity for 2nd grade