Under the Apple Tree An Early Reader

by Steve Metzger

A great book about children and the fun games that they play during the day. They play cowboy, fun on the farm, fun for you, fun at lake blue, good surprises. Great illustrations of the children playing. A great read for a young child or you to read to your toddler.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Picture Books, Childrens, Poetry

127 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

I grew up in Queens, NY in the 1950s with my “baby” sister, Lois. She is now a wonderful writer of young adult novels and nonfiction. My mother was born in Vienna, Austria, and my father came from Brooklyn – an interesting match! My best friends were Neil, Robbie, Krebs, and Paul. I’m still good friends with most of these guys. It was less hectic in those days – no computers, no emails, fewer TV channels (MANY fewer!) We had lots of fun playing ball and listening to records. I’ll never forget when the Beatles came to America – Beatlemania!
After graduating from Baruch College in NYC, I didn’t know what to do with my life. I bounced around doing odd jobs, including taxi driver, dishwasher, and hotel desk clerk. One day, while relaxing in Central Park (OK, I was unemployed), I saw a group of children from a local daycare center. It struck me that I always liked children -- perhaps I could make a career out of something I liked. Eureka! Ever since then, I’ve been involved, in one way or another, with the lives of young children.

I received my Masters in Education from Bank Street College and taught preschool kids for a bunch of years. I loved the childrens' innocence and vivid imaginations. After moving into school administration for a few years, I began working at Scholastic, where I have been ever since.

At Scholastic, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to write children’s books. The first book that I wrote was "The Dinofours: I’m Super Dino!" Twenty-seven other Dinofours’ books followed. I hope my respect and appreciation for young children shines through in my stories.

Nowadays, I’m lucky to be married to my beautiful and talented wife, Nancy (she’s also a writer). In 1998, we were blessed with a terrific daughter, Julia, who helps criticize my story ideas and lets me play with her once in a while.

And furthermore…any recollections of my life would not be complete without mentioning my grandmother, Mutti. She was an ever present source of love, appreciation, and wisdom.

Reviews

[Gabriella Araujo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and great for teaching phonics and series about apples

[Cortney Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about a boy who has many adventures under an apple tree. The illustrations are wonderful. The book is short and easy to read out loud when you have just a few minutes to spare. The book also rhymes quote a bit so if rhyming was going to be introduced, this could be a book read prior.

[Stephanie Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book talks about and apple tree and all the things that can be done under it. The author utilizes rhyming when describing the various activities. Students can learn about rhyming words and even make up a few of their own.

[Brielle Bogenschutz · Rating 2 out of 5]

To me, this book was kind of boring and didn't really have any interesting content to it. I could see it possibly could be a fun book to read to a class because of the fun rhymes but I wasn't very interested and wouldn't recommend this book.

[Crysta Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special. For young readers.

[Haley · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh.

[Kaitlyn Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a simple read that beginner readers may be able to read on their own. It also can be used to introduce rhyming words because of the many examples of rhyming.

[Mary Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations in the book were gorgeous. I really enjoyed reading about the apple tree and all of the wonderful things you can do under an apple tree.