Bad Apple

Lewis Jones doesn’t mince words about his green, scowling villain: “He’s a nasty piece of fruit.” Just how nasty is proven in the encounters that follow, which play out as rhyming blackout sketches portrayed by Sanders with crisp simplicity, subtle texturing, and the cheeky attitude of early 1960s graphic design. One of Apple’s first victims is the very tiny Pea (“He drank Pea’s tea”), who pops up on subsequent pages as witness to more bullying, as when Apple—who wears a hat he stole from Cat—brings Pie to tears because he “told a lie/ that made him cry./ Then poked Pie’s eye!” But when Apple eats cake belonging to Snake, comeuppance is swift: a page turn later, Snake wears Apple’s hat and a Mona Lisa smile, and sports an Apple-size bulge (which cleverly incorporates Apple’s stem and leaf) in his otherwise slinky physique. No backstory, no opportunity for remorse—just an affirmation of playing fair and a deeply satisfying meting out of justice. As the concluding advice briskly puts it, “Better not be rude/ when you’re just food.” Ages 3–5. [em](Mar.) [/em]