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Home | Book of the Week: The Apple Doll

Book of the Week: The Apple Doll

The Apple DollMy five-year-old daughter must love the book The Apple Doll by local Bay Area author and illustrator Elisa Kleven (40 pages, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007). She checked it out from the library no fewer than two times last year and got it again a few days ago. It's easy to see why it's one of her favorites: The Apple Doll is a charming book, and it's another great read-aloud story (with an added activity) for the fall season, especially if you happen to have an apple tree nearby.

The Apple Doll tells the story of Lizzy, a shy little girl who loves the apple tree in her yard and ends up making a doll out of an apple and twigs that she names "Susanna". She ends up getting teased by other kids for carrying around her apple-and-sticks creation at school. I know this sounds a little odd but the book handles the situation in a much better and sweeter way than I'm describing it here. Ultimately, Lizzy's mom takes the now long-in-the-tooth Susanna and makes an apple doll out of her, which inspires a class apple doll project and friendships and happiness ensue.

One of the best things about The Apple Doll, other than its delightful and colorfull illustrations, is that it includes instructions to make your very own apple doll, something I've wanted to do ever since I saw the commercial for Vincent Price's Shrunken Head apple doll kit way back when I was my daughter's age. Our first attempt to create an apple doll was an epic failure, as the large apple we were using was too big to submerge completely in lemon juice, as per the book's recipe, and got all moldy and stinky. Yuck!

Of course this year my daughter wants to make another apple doll. This time we'll use The Apple Doll for inspiration, but take a look at some other recipes out there to look for alternatives to what amounts to a huge amount of lemon juice, and maybe use a smaller apple, too. We'll let you know if it turns out.

Look for The Apple Doll at your local library or bookstore, or order it online from Barnes & Noble.