Before you check out Apples and Robins, an amazing picture book if there ever was one, check out the winner of two Tristan Hunt and the Sea Guardians author signed books. Each reader who commented was assigned a number, beginning with the first comment posted. (reverse order of placement). Using Random.org ‘s generator, the winner of The Shark Whisperer and The Shark Rider, both signed by Ellen Prager, is —

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Patricia Tilton!  

Patricia, please send your mailing address to:  smorris@kid-lit-reviews.com
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Apples and Robins
Written and Illustrated by Lucie Félix
Chronicle Books 3/01/2016
978-1-4521-3264-8
56 pages Ages 5—8

“All you need for apples
are circles and the color red.

“In this extraordinary book, as each page turned, one thing turns into another—a circle into an apple, an oval into a bird, winter into spring. Constantly surprising and brilliantly constructed, Lucie Félix’s Apples and Robins is full of the magic of shape, color, and imagination.” [back cover]

Review
To begin, turn a page and the red circles become apples. Since the apples are high up in the branches of the apple tree, you’ll need a ladder to reach them and a basket to hold them. Five rectangles will make a ladder and two circles the basket. Now climb up and pick those apples, and remember to test one. With two more circles, you can bite into the juicy red apples. Yummy, is that ever . . . a worm! Oh, yuck. But wait, with three triangles and an oval, a bird will form and take that worm for its own lunch. Keep turning the pages as more and more shapes and colors take you through a storm, winter, and a new spring day, with new life in your three-shape birdhouse.

Because of the die-cuts, the publisher could not supply spreads, but watch this trailer to see the magic of Apples and Robins unfold.

From cover-to-cover, Apples and Robins is an amazing die-cut picture book. Triangles, circles, rectangles and various colors turn into everything needed. There is even a storm so vicious—not terrifying—with lightning and a strong wind. The apples in the tree are knocked off it’s branches and the birdhouse falls to the ground, breaking upon impact. Not all is lost. With a few rectangles, you have a hammer and nails. Now you can put everything back together better than all the King’s horses and men could put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Kids will enjoy turning these thicker than normal pages—in a well-constructed book—to see each shape and color transform into something new, telling a story along the way. Félix put her book together brilliantly with imagination to spare. I’m sure Apples and Robins will inspire young children to move their own shapes into new and imaginative objects. Teachers will love the design and hardy pages that allow even a non-reader complete understanding. I especially love the lightening flash, how two blue triangles, and one parallelogram turn into a flash of yellow light onto a dark blue sky. Apples and Robins is perfect for teaching young children shapes and the power of imagination.

APPLES AND ROBINS. Text and Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Lucie Félix. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.

Amazon—Book Depository—Indie Books—Chronicle Books.

Find Apples and Robins on Goodreads HERE.

Lucie Félix:  http://www.luciefelix.fr/
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Chronicle Books:  http://www.chroniclebooks.com/
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Originally published by Ėditions des Grandes Personnes © 2013.
US edition published by Chronicle Books © 2016

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Copyright © 2016 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved
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Full Disclosure: Apples and Robins by Lucie Félix, and received from Chronicle Books, is in exchange NOT for a positive review, but for an HONEST review. The opinions expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”