Apples for All: A Story About Grafting

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Author(s)

Mary Peterson

Publisher Name

Feeding Minds Press

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

April 28, 2026

ISBN13

978-1948898201

ISBN10 or ASIN

Bobbi’s family loves apples! The only problem? They can’t agree on which type to grow! Gala? Granny Smith? McIntosh? When Bobbi discovers the solution – grafting – her family comes together to care for one very special tree. The result? Apples for all!

This children’s picture book, written and illustrated in the fun and colorful style of Mary Peterson, introduces young readers to the fascinating world of apples, apple trees, and the science of tree grafting.

Perfect for curious kids who love nature, gardening, and learning where food comes from, this STEM-aligned story makes a great classroom resource or gift for budding gardeners, scientists, and apple lovers! Filled with engaging facts about apples, tree grafting, and the heartwarming theme of compromise, APPLES FOR ALL! is not just a delightful read that will resonate with young readers, but also a valuable educational resource. Informational backmatter includes fun apple facts, an apple variety guide, and an applesauce recipe!

Editor review

1 review

Food for Thought!

May 07, 2026

Overall rating

4.5

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

Bobbi loves living with her family on a farm, but is sad that they don’t have any apple trees. She asks her grandpa if they can plant a seed and start growing one, but he lets her know that trees grown from seeds are of unpredictable quality. They decide to buy a tree and wait patiently for it to grow, but the family can’t decide what type of apples to choose. Luckily, Grandpa suggests grafting different types onto their new tree. Bobbi learns how to do this, and the tree has Gala, Granny Smith, McIntosh, and even a crabapple scion grafted onto the tree. The family waters and fertilizes the plant, and makes sure it is free from weeds and pruned so it can grow well. After three years, the family is able to harvest their apples and make apple pie, cider, crab apple jelly, and Bobbi’s favorite, applesauce. The book ends with some apple facts, a chart of different varieties of apples, and even a recipe for applesauce!

Good Points

The information about cultivating apples is offset nicely by the story of Bobbi and her love of applesauce. I loved how her family worked together to help her choose and plant a tree. The assortment of apples was fun to see, but I kind of wanted a history of Honeycrisp apples and information about the change in popularity of types; when apples were used more for cooking, MacIntosh were the most popular. That might be a little bit of a niche interest!

The pictures were clear, bright, and charming, and lent themselves well to the educational content. The text is easy to follow, and not overly long, so this could be a fun read aloud in the fall, when teachers like to look at books like Rustad and Enright’s Fall Apples, Brown and Nassner’s Secrets of the Apple Tree, Amstutz and Shipman’s Applesauce Day, Hall and Halpern’s The Apple Pie Tree, and Hutchins Ten Red Apples.

Now that many people don’t live near farms and don’t have family who run them, children have lost a lot of their agrarian knowledge. I had a student a few years ago who thought that strawberries grew on trees. Books like Apples for All serve a very important purpose in educating children about the food they eat. I’ll definitely be looking for other titles from Feeding Minds Press, which is run by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.