Bad Apple
A Tale of Friendship
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
It takes a firm apple to stand up to bullies.
When Mac, an apple, meets Will, a worm, they become fast friends, teaching each other games and even finishing each other's sentences. But apples aren't supposed to like worms, and Mac gets called "rotten" and "bad apple." At first, Mac doesn't know what to do—it's never easy standing up to bullies—but after a lonely day without Will, Mac decides he'd rather be a bad apple with Will than a sad apple without.
Edward Hemingway's warm art and simple, crisp text are the perfect pairing, and themes of bullying and friendship are sure to hit readers' sweet spots all year round.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hemingway's spreads recall old campground postcards of the 1950s, with rainbows arcing over cloud-covered hills and orange-tinted sunsets. It's a good setting for this otherworldly tale of an apple named Mac who forms a close relationship with the worm who takes refuge in his head one day. Although Will the worm turns out to be a stalwart friend he's supportive, friendly, and full of good ideas the other apples jeer: "Mac's a rotten apple!" Tender interactions between Mac and Will (they read books together, and Will finishes Mac's sentences) make it clear that Mac's conclusion that he'd rather be "a Bad Apple with Will than a sad apple without him" is the right one. With sweet-tempered humor, Heming-way (Bump in the Night) concentrates less on the bullying and more on the intimacy Mac and Will share, allowing the two to retreat from the world to their cherished clearing on the hill. Although adults may detect a veiled romance there's just something about the way Mac looks at Will the story works very nicely as a gentle celebration of friendship. Ages 3 5.
