Review: The Apple Argument
The Apple Argument by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Anita Barghigiani Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rachel J. Fremmer Buy at Bookshop.org The Apple Argument is a modern midrash, a backstory to the tales told in the Torah. With richly colored, appropriately lush illustrations by Anita Barghighiani, Jane Yolen spins a story explaining why we must work to coax food from the land. As the fruits bicker over which one of them is best overall, just like people so often do, each cites their strongest quality but fails to recognize that their varied strengths combine to create something better together - a fruit salad perhaps? In a scene relatable to any parent, an exasperated G-d leaves the scene, saying, “I will move far away so I do not need to hear you.” Human laziness - not curiosity - is the driver in this version of the Eden story, resulting in Adam and Eve finding it easier to “pluck the Fruits from the trees and Vines” tha