The Apple Pie that Papa Baked

written by Lauren Thompson
illustrated by Jonathan Bean
Simon and Schuster, 2007

Ezra Jack Keats Award Winner for illustration, 2008

"You can always tell when the cooks have added a special touch of TLC to a recipe...a could-have-been standard cumulative tale of a fatherly farmer collecting apples and baking a pie is made extraordinary by its fine folk art/folksong sensibilities, its particularly appetizing apple-pie palette of crusty golden-brown, buttery cream, apple-red and cast-iron black and by the artist's inspired use of line...Bean is someone to watch." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"The text is dear, and it's well matched by delightful illustrations. Bean uses the best of old and new in artwork that harkens back to the works of Lois Lenski, Robert McClosky, and especially Wanda Gag. With dun-colored backgrounds and black-and-gold line work (occasionally brightened with red), the intricately detailed art is reminiscent of the time when picture books were rarely full color." --Booklist, starred review

"Bean's fine folk-style artwork complements the lyrical text. The illustrations were each drawn in black ink on three separate sheets of vellum, scanned into a computer, and recomposed and colored. They use only red, black, and yellow, and the simple palette and buff-colored pages make the images sharp and elegant. The pictures effectively and humorously move the story forward, depicting the activities of the characters and several tag-along farm animals as they pick the apples, prepare the pie, and head back to the tree for a picnic. While the text blossoms out to encompass the whole world, the illustrations focus on the homey setting and the affection shared by father and daughter, keeping the story grounded until its sweet conclusion." --School Library Journal

"The use of only three colors (red, mustard brown, and black) and an illustrative style infused with touches of both Virginia Lee Burton and Wanda Gag give the art an old-fashioned sensibility — fitting for this cozy tale of a homemade pie, “warm and sweet,” told in a rhyme that gathers in the whole world, from a tiny apple to the big sky.
-- The Horn Book Magazine