20 books about apples for kids

It’s apple season, which means it’s time to find the best books about apples to share with your kids! Over time, we’ve read a lot of different children’s books about apples. Below I have reviewed 20 books about apples for kids that include both fiction and non-fiction selections for you to choose from.

Note: For more apple learning resources, see my Apple Unit Study page. 

How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro

From the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, this book provides wonderful details about the growth of an apple, from a tiny flower bud to a full grown fruit. Without sounding dry, the text provides a great amount of detail about the parts of an apple blossom using scientific words like “sepals,” “stamens,” and “pistils.” It also describes in detail the pollination process that is required for an apple blossom to become an apple. Overall, this book is a great addition for parents and teachers wanting to teach the science behind apples. Ages 4-8.

Apples by Gail Gibbons

Gail Gibbons has another winner with this is a wonderful book about apples geared toward older preschoolers and grade school children. It gives some history about the apple, including how it was brought to the United States by the colonists and spread westward by the settlers. It provides modern day facts about apples including how many are grown each year. It provides a look at the apple life cycle. And it shares some of the fun ways that people enjoy apples, such as apple bobbing. There are so many wonderful facts about apples in here that this book is a must for any apple unit! Ages 4-8.

Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

This delightful story follows a family (illustrated as rabbits) as they go on an apple picking adventure. Sprinkled throughout the story are wonderful factual tidbits, such as a chart describing the uses and tastes of various apple varieties and a diagram showing the parts of an apple. In the story, the family takes their apples home and makes applesauce. The recipe is provided so readers can make their own applesauce at home. In fact, additional information about everything the family learns about apples is included, such as the sheet music for a song about apples and directions for making painted apple prints. There are so many wonderful apple-related activities in this book that it will inspire plenty of apple-themed learning. Ages 3-7.

The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

This book takes young readers through the seasons of an apple tree. The story begins in winter when the tree branches are bare, then takes readers into spring when the first leaves begin to appear on the apple tree. While the story describes the seasonal changes in the apple tree, it also focuses on seasonal changes with the family of robins that make a nest and lay their eggs in the tree’s branches. At the end of the story, the robins have hatched and the family harvests apples to bake a delicious apple pie. The last page of the book includes a recipe for apple pie as well as facts about how bees help apples to grow. Ages 4-9.

Up Up Up! It’s Apple Picking Time by Jody Fickes Shapiro

Narrated by a little boy, this story shares a day in the life of a family who gets up early to drive to meet their grandparents at the apple orchard for apple picking day. The family works all day to pick apples in order to sell them the following day at a fruit stand. The last page of the book includes a recipe for Granny’s Microwave-Baked Apples that are simple to prepare and delicious to eat. Ages 4-6.

Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss writing as Theo LeSieg

This book is a classic, and one that is not to be missed! In this book, three friends work to balance as many apples on their heads as they can. Counting as they go and enjoying a bit of friendly competition, the friends continue adding apples until they reach ten apples up on top! But will they let them drop? Readers interested in extending the learning from this book will find literally hundreds of extension activities online. Ages 3-7.

The Apple Orchard Riddle by Margaret McNamara

In this fun book, readers follow along on Mr. Tiffin’s class field trip to an apple orchard. When the class arrives, Mr. Tiffin gives them a riddle to solve during their field trip: “Show me a little red house with no windows and no door, but with a star inside.” The class tries to solve the riddle while learning about different varieties of apples, how to pick an apple, and how an apple cider press works. By the end of the field trip, one student manages to solve the riddle. Can you solve it before you get to the end of the book? Ages 4-8.

The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons

This story follows Arnold and his secret place – his apple tree! Young readers will see how the tree changes throughout the seasons, from bees collecting nectar in the spring to the first green fruit appearing in the summer to the apple harvest in the fall. In each season we also see Arnold enjoy his apple tree for other adventures such as making flower arrangements with the apple blossoms and building a tree house to relax in. We also see Arnold’s family enjoying the tree’s fruit, making apple pie and using an apple cider press to produce apple cider. The recipe for the pie and a detailed diagram of the workings of the apple press are included. Ages 4-7.

Apple Countdown by Joan Holub

This book follows a group of kids on a field trip to their local apple orchard. The story follows a counting scheme that goes backwards from 20 all the way to one. Thus, the story starts by describing 20 apple nametags for the kids and teacher, then describes how 19 kids get on the bus for an 18 mile ride to the orchard. Personally, I loved the ethnic diversity of the characters in the story which was evident both in how they were drawn as well as in their names. Something else to love about this book is that inside the front and back covers were a variety of fascinating facts about apples. For example, we learned that apples float because they are 25% air! Ages 3-8.

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins

The farmer has 10 apples on his tree, but one by one his animals come to chomp, munch, and gobble them up! Each time, the farmer cries “Save one for me!” This counting book uses a repetitive storytelling device that will allow children to predict what happens each time – at least until the very end when the farmer takes the last apple right before his wife shows up wanting one for herself! Young readers will be delighted at the solution to this problem. Ages 4-8.

Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray

In this book, A is for “apple pie,” B is for “bake it,” and C is for “cool it.” The story continues through all the letters of the alphabet, following the adventures of a little girl and her dog, who just can’t help but want a taste of the pie even no matter how hard the girl tries to keep him from it. Ages 3-6.

Ducking for Apples by Lynne Berry

Kids will enjoy following the adventures of five bumbling little ducks who set off on their bikes and wind up at an apple tree. After some misadventures that result in the apples they’ve picked spilling all around, the ducks head home to bake an eat and apple pie. The book includes rhyming text and watercolor illustrations. Ages 3-5.

Johnny Appleseed by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benét

The text in this book comes from the poem “Johnny Appleseed” originally written by the authors in 1933. More recently, it was interpreted with beautiful illustrations in order to create this book. The story describes the life of Jonathan Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, detailing his raggedy clothing, tin pan hat, and his efforts to plant apple trees along the frontier. This book provides a wonderful introduction to Johnny Appleseed and his important role in American history. Note: book contains religious references. Ages 4-8.

Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg

This story provides a detailed but child-friendly account of the life of John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed. Starting from his birth in 1774 to his death more than 70 years later, this book tells of Johnny Appleseed’s great love of animals, his work to plant apple trees for the pioneer families that were expanding west, and his prowess with an ax. The book even shares some of the legends about Johnny Appleseed that were told in his day, such as the time he was supposedly attacked by a rattlesnake but was not hurt because his feet were so tough the snake’s fangs could not penetrate. Ages 5-9.

The Growing-Up Tree by Vera Rosenberry

This book follows the parallel lives of a boy and a an apple tree. When Alfred was just a baby, his mother planted the seed of an apple tree. As Alfred grows and changes, as he marries and has children and grandchildren, the apple tree is always there, growing and changing right alongside him through each season of life. Ages 5-8.

One Red Apple by Harriet Ziefert

This book teaches the life cycle of an apple in story form. Follow along as an apple grows from blossom to fruit, and then is harvested from the tree. After being purchased at market and taken along to a picnic, a bird finishes off the core and soon a seed falls to the ground, beginning the cycle again. The illustrations in this book are simple yet colorful, and even the page borders work to tell the story of the apples. Ages 7-10.

An Apple Pie for Dinner by Susan VanHecke

This story is based off of an old English folktale. It weaves the tale of a an elderly woman aptly named Granny Smith, whose penchant for apple pie leads her on a swap journey find some the perfect fruit for her pie. She begins with a basket of purple plums that she is able to trade for some soft feathers. The feathers she trades for flowers, the flowers for a gold coin, and so on. With her final trade, Granny Smith is finally able to make an apple pie that she shares with all of the people she met along the way. Ages 5-9.

Apples, Apples Everywhere by Robin Koontz

When the leaves change and the air becomes crisp and cool, it’s a sure sign that autumn has arrived. And with fall comes apple picking time! Join a family as they operate their apple orchard. Discover several different types of apples and learn which ones are best for eating and which ones are best for baking sweet desserts. Just make sure to check for worms before taking your first bite! Ages 4-9.

Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson

When Papa makes the decision to move the family cross country from Iowa to Oregon territory, he just can’t bear to leave the things most precious to him. The kids squeeze into the covered wagon alongside his apple saplings, as well as several other fruit trees. The long journey is made all the more perilous by large hailstones, rushing rivers, and hot, dry, periods of drought. But despite the setbacks, Papa and his daughter Delicious are determined to get the young trees to their new home in the rich Oregon soil. Ages 6-12.

Johnny Appleseed by Reeve Lindbergh

Rhyming text brings some whimsy to the story of apple tree planting legend Johnny Appleseed. Back in the late 1700s, John Chapman traveled throughout the states of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, planting seeds of apple trees wherever he went. Ages 8-12.

More apple resources

More apple posts from Gift of Curiosity:

• Apple Unit Study
• Apple Printables Pack
• Apple Do-a-Dot Printables
• Apple taste testing
• Apple rotting experiment
• Dissecting an apple
• Apple sensory bin
• Apple Montessori activities

For more kid-friendly apple activities and apple printables, see my Apple Unit Study page and my Apples Pinterest board.