Apple Cake

Apple Cake by Dawn Casey is a warm, lyrical picture book that follows a child gathering each ingredient for an apple cake from its natural source—hazelnuts from the hedge, apples from the tree, eggs from the hens—before bringing the finished cake to the family table. The rhyming text begs to be read aloud, and Genevieve Godbout's soft watercolor illustrations are genuinely beautiful, the kind that make a parent slow down and look twice. A recipe for apple cake at the back turns storytime into kitchen time. The theme of gratitude for where food comes from feels organic rather than instructional. The only real caveat is its strong association with autumn and Thanksgiving, which may make it feel seasonal to some families. Year-round or not, it's a lovely book.