Ten red apples hanging on a tree. Yippee, fiddle-dee-fee! But they are not there for long. Horse, cow, donkey, pig, hen, and the other farm animals each eat one. "Save one for me," calls the farmer. But what about the farmer's wife?

Count on Pat Hutchins to solve the problem happily. And count the red apples before they are all gone!

Reviews

Bold colors dominate Hutchins's (Titch) gouache paintings, framed in fire-engine red and featuring characters depicted as hinged wooden people and animals. The rhyming, sing-song text counts down from 10 as a succession of farm animals consume apples from a tree, beginning with a horse: "Ten red apples hanging on the tree./ Yippee, fiddle-dee-fee!/ Horse came and ate one,/ chomp, chomp, chomp./ Neigh, neigh, fiddle-dee-fee./ `Horse!' cried the farmer./ `Save some for me!' " For each verse, an animal takes its fruit, then moves to the right side of the spread, creating a cumulative visual effect. After the ninth animal helps itself to the tree's bounty, a sole apple remains for the farmer, but none for his wife, who hopes to bake a pie. In the closing spreads, the farmer spies another tree bearing 10 apples, setting youngsters up to start all over again. Hutchins's repetitive narrative, with its long vowel sounds coupled with crayon-bright toy characters, will invite audience participation and boost beginning readers' self-confidence. Ages 3-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.