“The most daring adventure in the history of fruit,” is how Delicious, the young narrator of this tall, tongue-in-cheek tale, describes the journey of her family and their fruit trees across the Great Plains to the western United States. Her daddy is plum crazy about his fruit trees, and their wagon is a traveling orchard, bearing apple, peach, pear, plum, grape and cherry trees ready for replanting in the Oregon soil. Daddy is a laughingstock to many on the western trail, but not to Delicious, her Momma and her little brothers and sisters. They all pitch in when the trees are in peril. High water, hailstorms, and heat are no match for this dedicated family. Puns and alliteration abound (“The peaches are plummeting!....The plums are plunging!” And “...Daddy’s dainties were safe.”) in Deborah Hopkinson’s hilarious, high-spirited story. Nancy Carpenter’s illustrations, done in folk-art style, perfectly reflect the narrative’s tall-tale tone while adding a number of humorous visual details. An author’s note explains that Hopkinson based her story—very loosely—on fact. The first apple trees were brought to Oregon by a pioneer named Henderson Luelling, who traveled from Iowa with his wife, Elizabeth, their eight children, and “seven hundred plants and young fruit trees.” (Ages 5–9)

Apples, ho! When Papa decides to pull up roots and move from Iowa to Oregon, he can't bear to leave his precious apple trees behind. Or his peaches, plums, grapes, cherries, and pears. Oh, and he takes his family along too. But the trail is cruel -- first there's a river to cross that's wider than Texas...and then there are hailstones as big as plums...and there's even a drought, sure to crisp the cherries. Those poor pippins! Luckily Delicious (the nonedible apple of Daddy's eye) is strong -- as young 'uns raised on apples are -- and won't let anything stop her father's darling saps from tasting the sweet Oregon soil. Here's a hilarious tall tale -- from the team that brought you Fannie in the Kitchen -- that's loosely based on the life of a real fruiting pioneer. Apple Facts More than 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world. About 2,500 varieties grow in the United States. The apple variety Delicious is the most widely grown in the United States. Apples are part of the rose family. The science of fruit growing is called pomology. Fresh apples float. That's because 25 percent of their volume is air. Cut an apple in half, across the core, and you'll see a star shape. It takes apple trees four to five years to produce their first fruit. It takes about thirty-six apples to make one gallon of apple cider.