Apple books are popular for teachers to use in teaching students about science - especially during apple picking season.  There is a wealth of across-the-curriculum teaching ideas & resources for teachers with activities for all grade levels at the www.usapple.org educators’ site and at www.nyapplecountry.com/edplansa.htm

Scholastic's Kid Lit Kit blog author Jeremy Brunaccioni posted a really nice review of Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Apple Story in his Picture Book Thursday "Harvest Time" edition. He also reviewed the book Corn by Gail Gibbons and The Best Gift of All which was written by Jonathan Emmett and illustrated by Vanessa Cabban.

The blog is about how teachers can teach with books. The review is about how teachers can use Golden Delicious in their classrooms and is as follows:

Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Apple Story
If you’ve ever read Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire and thought the apple information would be useful in the classroom but too advanced for your students, then this is the book you’ve been waiting for. It traces the discovery and distribution of the Golden Delicious. The author’s note is extensive and intriguing enough to make me want to plant some apple trees in my yard.

Activity
Purchase a selection of apples to have a taste testing and graph the results.  Invite a neighboring class or two and compare their graph results.  Bon appetit!

Thanks Kid Lit Kit!

There is a direct connection between writing poetry and writing the text of a picture book. In both, every word has to be perfect. In many respects, I think writing a novel is easier. There is so much more room in which to work!

If you would like to read some of my poetry, just go to the poetry section of the Fall 2008 issue of Hamilton Stone Review. This issue of Hamilton Stone Review, an "All-West Virginia" issue, was edited by Meredith Sue Willis, a WV native, who is a terrific author and teacher.   (If you would like to read some of my picture books, check out No Star Nights, Outside the Window, and Golden Delicious:  A Cinderella Apple Story)

If you are looking for intelligent discourse on books or wondering what to read next, I encourage you to subscribe to Meredith Sue Willis's free e-newsletter BOOKS FOR READERS. Just send a blank email to Readerbooks-subscribe@topica.com Thank you, Meredith Sue for ALL you do for readers and writers!

me and the Mullins family

GOLDEN DELICIOUS: A CINDERELLA APPLE STORY made its official Grand Debut at the West Virginia Book Festival in our state capital of Charleston. I was delighted with the response. After my slide presentation, both the WV Book Company and Borders sold out of their copies!

A great and unexpected pleasure was meeting several descendants of Bewel Mullins, the brother of Anderson Mullins, the Clay County farmer who discovered the Golden Delicious apple. What a terrific family! The above photo shows Helen Elaine Whited Dawson, Helen Suzanne Mullins Plybon, Nancy Margaret Mullins Schaffner, me, and David Lonnie Mullins. They're justifiably proud to have their "family" story in a book.

As always, the West Virginia Book Festival, held the second weekend in October, was a great energizer for me. It's fantastic to be in the company of so many fellow-booklovers. A huge THANK YOU!! to all those people, especially the librarians, the WV Book Festival committee, and all of the volunteers who work so hard to put this annual event together.

It's also a wonderful opportunity to hear other authors read from their work. I was especially impressed with Ann Pancake who read from her powerful book STRANGE AS THIS WEATHER HAS BEEN. This novel brings home in a visceral way the devastation of mountaintop removal mining on our land and people.

Recently I had the pleasure of doing a presentation on my new book, GOLDEN DELICIOUS: A CINDERELLA APPLE STORY at the Mary H. Weir Public Library in Weirton, WV. It was great to be back in my hometown where I also spent a day at St. Joseph the Worker Elementary School sharing my books with the students and doing a poetry workshop with the 8th Graders. The teachers went all out, wearing apple motif pins and vests, and the walls of the hallway were filled with delightful artwork done by students in response to my various books. There was even a delicious apple cake in the teacher's lounge. What a memorable school visit. Thank you St. Joe's!

The photo shows Linda Kucan, a professor in the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education, and my best friend ever since 7th Grade. (In my book NO STAR NIGHTS Linda is the "best friend on the slag hill.) In the middle, is her niece Jordan Porter who along with her brother, Tyler, helped out tremendously with book sales, and that's me on the right.

This is my newly-discovered, Australian cousin who has my same name.

A month ago I received her delightful e-mail that said:
 
Hi my name is Anna Egan.
I am five.
I love your books.
I have just read  golden  Delicious.
thank you for writing such a great book.
I am in Australia.
I had to order this book because I was interested after google searching my name!
I found that I share my name with you.
My local library did not have your books so my mum helped me to order it through my favourite book shop.
I love reading books!
 
 
Just like me, Anna loves to read and write.  She is in first grade and is the youngest member of a writer's circle that meets after school.  The young writers sit and listen to all the students' writing and then they have afternoon tea with their teacher.  
 
Anna and I hope that someday we will get to meet each other.  Wouldn't that be wonderful!
 
Here is a lovely poem Anna wrote that was published in her WRITERS' CIRCLE MAGAZINE Edition 43.

Moon

By Anna Egan 1st Grade

Moon, you look so beautiful tonight.

So bright and shiny.

Do the stars put stardust on your cheek?

Moon, you look so tired tonight.

Go to sleep and have a rest

with a nice fluffy cloud blanket.

Every night I look at you from my window

And

Every night you look different.

Moon, you look so happy tonight.

So smiley and chatty.

Is it because you have your twinkle friend staying next to you

tonight?

Moon,

Thank you for giving me a light through the night and showing me

so many different faces every night.

Good night moon.  Sweet dreams my friend.

Hope to see you tomorrow night.   

The publisher of my book The Life of Saint Brigid (Appletree Press in Ireland) offers this information about the book:

                      

The first of February, the first day of spring, is celebrated as Saint Brigid's feast day. But who was she and why is she so venerated in Ireland? Brigid lived in Ireland at the very beginning of Christianity and was a woman of unique vision, personality and spirit. She founded a monastery, became a champion of the poor and sick and was a peacemaker in a violent land. She also shared her name with one of the pre-Christian gods and so the legends of the goddess and the saint became infused.

The Life of St Brigid looks at the legends connected with the saint, prayers about her and explains the symbolism behind (and how to make) the St Brigid's cross. The fire of Celtic spirituality lit by St Brigid so many years ago continues to burn and readers will be fascinated by a woman who continues to inspire people today.

Saint Brigid book cover

A new website dedicated to the Saint and Celtic Goddess Brigid (also known as St. Brighid) gave a lovely description of my book The Life of Saint Brigid. St. Brigid is perhaps best known for the crosses that bear her name and are hung in Irish households to protect against fire.

To learn about my inspiration for writing The Life of Saint Brigid, click here.

They added The Life of Saint Brigid to a list of "Books that have inspired (the site)."  The "mini-review" is as follows:  "Beautifully produced little book with the Life of the Saint, Legends of the Goddess, Customs, Prayers and instructions to make Brigid's Cross."

The Life of St. Brigid
- Anna Egan Smucker
- Appletree Press 2007 - ISBN: 10: 0 86281 9997
76 pp Hardback

.

family in Canaan Valley

Here I am with my brother and sister on the top of Bald Knob in Canaan Valley, West Virginia. We picked (and ate) wild blueberries as we hiked to the top. On the way up the trail we saw a fresh bear-paw print in the mud. Made me think of one of my favorite children's stories BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL by Robert McCloskey.

Also, my sister's name is Sal!

view of Long Lake

This picture is a view of Long Lake taken from my "writing place" on the screened-in porch of the Smucker cottage near Traverse City, Michigan. "The Cottage" has been in my husband's family for fifty years. At the end of beautiful Long Lake Peninsula, it's a great place to visit with our Smucker relatives.

Note:  Long Lake is not far away from Lake Michigan, the setting for my book To Keep the South Manitou Light

This is about Golden Delicious:  A Cinderella Apple Story, my newest book.  This detail sheet was released by the publisher in fall of 2008. 

Golden Delicious
A Cinderella Apple Story
Written by Anna Egan Smucker
Illustrated by Kathleen Kemly

Paul and Lloyd Stark, owners of the Stark Bro’s Nursery in Missouri, were looking for the perfect apple. It would be sweet and juicy. It would bring them fame and fortune, and would be crowned Queen of the Apple World! Box after box arrived from farmers who were sure they had grown the perfect apple, but none of the apples was quite right.

Meanwhile, many miles away in the hills of West Virginia, Anderson Mullins was inspecting his new farm. It had been a hot summer and everything was dry as dust. He certainly didn’t
expect to find a glossy, green-leaved tree loaded with shining yellow apples.

When the Stark brothers received Mullins’s yellow apples in the spring of 1914, they were astonished—the apples tasted so crisp and delicious! Was this the apple they had been looking for? Paul Stark set out on a thousand-mile journey to see this marvelous tree for himself.

Based on real events, this story of how the Golden Delicious apple came to be is perfect for discussions on nature and growing fruits and vegetables. Kathleen Kemly’s detailed, cheerful art creates the perfect setting for Anna Egan Smucker’s charming text. The author lives in West Virginia. The illustrator lives in Washington State.

Golden Delicious
A Cinderella Apple Story
ISBN 13: 978-0-8075-2987-4
$16.99 • Age Levels: 6-8 • Grades: 1-3
Pub. Date: September 2008
Pages: 32 • Size: 8 x 10
Illustrations: Full color
Hardcover Binding