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First Apple
Ying knows the perfect birthday present for her grandmother--a shiny, crunchy red apple. But they live in Hong Kong, where apples are "rich people's fruit". Ying has the perfect plan to earn the money--if she can keep out of the school bully's way.
Hardcover
First published September 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 30, 2017
This is the first of 4 books about a girl named Yeung Ying, growing up in rural southern China in the 1940s. Ying wants to give her grandmother Ah Pau something very special for her 71st birthday--an apple. However, apples are "rich people's food" and very expensive. How will she ever get the money to buy one? What amazes me about this story is the idea of apples being only for the rich, when here in America they're cheap. Throughout the story, I wanted to reach in and hand her a bag of them! Better yet, I wanted to give her an assortment of different kinds of apples, so she would know the different colors and textures and degrees of sweetness and sourness of them. I wonder if apples are still expensive there today? This book is an example of why it's so important for young people to read about other cultures. What we take for granted here may be very precious somewhere else. Recommended! Can't wait to read the next one.
August 30, 2018
Lovely children's book about a young Chinese girl, whose grandmother dreams of tasting an apple one day.
February 27, 2019
read-aloud. Good lesson in the end.
January 4, 2017
My "First Book of the Year" is a Children's Literature written by Ching Yeung Russell. It was a meaningful story about a poor young girl's various attempts of fulfilling her grandmother's childhood dreams and what she did would inspire both young and older readers alike.
Nine-year-old Yeung Ying lives with her cousins' family ever since her parents left her with them when she was five. Being the only Yeung in Chan's Village of a small town of Tai Kong, China, Yeung Ying is merely a simple-minded girl who is satisfied enough to have food in her stomach and a roof above her head. She is closest to her grandmother, whom she fondly called her "Ah Pau" (as in Cantonese pronunciation) and after knowing Ah Pau's childhood dreams is eating her first apple, she decided to buy one for her upcoming seventy-first birthday. Now apples are considered as a rich man's fruit back then in the 1940s and Yeung Ying has to find ways of earning money to buy that shiny red fruit as a present to Ah Pau.
As the story progresses, we see Yeung Ying going through all the troubles to earn sixteen cents for an apple. Through the course, we see her struggles, the mistakes she has made and what she has learned while making Ah Pau's (as well as hers) dreams come true. Truth be told, it was a simple story but yet it was touching and contains full of valuable traits that inspire readers to be filial, grateful, honest and most of all, not to be afraid of admitting your mistakes. I also loved it that this story details the everyday life of our young Yeung Yin and some of these descriptions are brought to life through Mr Christopher Zhang's lovely illustrations. Personally I felt this is a great book to be read together with your children and after closing this post I'm going to share it with my daughters.
Nine-year-old Yeung Ying lives with her cousins' family ever since her parents left her with them when she was five. Being the only Yeung in Chan's Village of a small town of Tai Kong, China, Yeung Ying is merely a simple-minded girl who is satisfied enough to have food in her stomach and a roof above her head. She is closest to her grandmother, whom she fondly called her "Ah Pau" (as in Cantonese pronunciation) and after knowing Ah Pau's childhood dreams is eating her first apple, she decided to buy one for her upcoming seventy-first birthday. Now apples are considered as a rich man's fruit back then in the 1940s and Yeung Ying has to find ways of earning money to buy that shiny red fruit as a present to Ah Pau.
As the story progresses, we see Yeung Ying going through all the troubles to earn sixteen cents for an apple. Through the course, we see her struggles, the mistakes she has made and what she has learned while making Ah Pau's (as well as hers) dreams come true. Truth be told, it was a simple story but yet it was touching and contains full of valuable traits that inspire readers to be filial, grateful, honest and most of all, not to be afraid of admitting your mistakes. I also loved it that this story details the everyday life of our young Yeung Yin and some of these descriptions are brought to life through Mr Christopher Zhang's lovely illustrations. Personally I felt this is a great book to be read together with your children and after closing this post I'm going to share it with my daughters.
July 25, 2014
This book certainly was an eye-opening experience for me as someone who is unfamiliar with Chinese culture. The thought of an apple being a delicacy that only rich people could afford is a kind of astounding. The entire book revolved around the idea of a girl trying an apple with her grandmother. It was a small kind of story that worked really well. I'd read her other work as well.
August 28, 2016
Got copies of this book and "The Water Ghost" autographed by the author herself when I was in about 1st grade. Ching Yeung Russell's stories so delicately formulate a beautifully crisp image of a typical village of 20th century China, kind of making you wish you had a childhood alike to the character. It's a beautiful book, do read it.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews