Genre
Cumulative tales
Picture books for children
Subject
Animals
Fathers and daughters
Girls
Parent and child
Pies

Using the classic English nursery rhyme and cumulative tale, "This Is the House That Jack Built," as a template, Lauren Thompson spins an engaging tale of a sweet apple pie that a father baked for his daughter. Tracing back from the pie to the apples, the apples to the tree, the tree to the roots, the roots to the rain, and so on, the narrative here expands out to the entire world, before focusing in again on the apple pie, and the loving bond between father and daughter...

The Apple Pie That Papa Baked is a lovely little book, pairing a beautifully-worded text from Thompson, who manages to take a fairly formulaic structure and insert some emotion into it, with gorgeous artwork from illustrator Jonathan Bean. Influenced by such classic picture-book artists as Virginia Lee Burton and Wanda Gág, Bean created these striking vintage-style illustrations using three sets of drawings, done on vellum and then combined, recreating an older printing process not commonly used today. The result is a beautifully-illustrated book, one that looks like a classic, but also has a contemporary feeling. I really loved the artwork here, and was interested to see that this was Bean's first picture-book, given my enjoyment of his subsequent books - Building Our House, This Is My Home, This Is My School - done in a different style. I also really appreciated that this was a father-daughter story, as this pairing doesn't seem to be as common as it should be, in picture-book land. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for sweet autumnal stories and/or tales featuring fathers and daughters. ( )

This book is a short compounding narrative about an apple pie that papa baked. It is a good anchor text for introducing this genre to a classroom.

Le texte, comptine amusante ou ritournelle poétique, entraîne le lecteur dans une promenade champêtre et gourmande retraçant le cycle de murissage du fruit, tandis qu’en arrière-plan il assiste à la préparation de la tarte, depuis la cueillette des pommes jusqu’à l’épluchage.
Un texte à chanter ou à conter puisque sa rythmique donne envie de le partager avec une ribambelle d’enfants autour de soi.

6 ans ( )

I love the art in the book. With only black, beige, brown and a touch of red in every illustration, the artist proves that through line and shape an entire world can be created. I also appreciate how it makes the reader think about where and how apples came to be. I find it refreshing that papa makes the pie for his daughter rather than a mother.