Aaron Loves Apples and Pumpkins

by P.D. Eastman

It’s autumn in this Step 1 Step into Reading early reader by P. D. Eastman, author of Go, Dog. Go! and Are You My Mother? As Aaron the Alligator’s thoughts turn to apples, pumpkins, football, and . . . ghosts, his usual mishaps occur while playing outdoors with his friends. Young readers will giggle along as they tackle the simple words and sentences all on their own. Aaron the Alligator is also a star of The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary and a long out-of-print series called Everything Happens to Aaron , the basis for this book. Look for more of Aaron’s Step into Reading Aaron Is a Good Sport , Aaron Has a Lazy Day , and Aaron Is Cool .
 
Step 1 Readers feature big type and easy words for children who know the alphabet and are eager to begin reading. Rhyme and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story.

Genres: Picture Books, Halloween, Childrens, Food, Fiction, Ebooks, Humor

32 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2015

About the author

Philip Dey "Phil" Eastman was an American screenwriter, children's author, and illustrator. As an author, he is known primarily as P. D. Eastman. A protégé of Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), Eastman wrote many books for children, in his own distinct style under the Dr. Seuss brand of Random House, many of which were in the Beginner Books series.

From 1936 to 1941, Eastman worked at the story department of Walt Disney Productions. From 1941 to 1943 he worked at the story department of Warner Bros. Cartoons. From 1945 to 1952 he worked in the story department of United Productions of America. He contributed to the "Private Snafu" World War II training films, wrote for the animation Mr. Magoo, and the Gerald McBoing-Boing series for UPA.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 2 out of 5]

A beginning reader about Aaron the alligator. This seems all over the places to me. It starts out with hide-and-go-seek and them Halloween and ends with apples. I feel this is not the best beginning reader. Plus Aaron is not the best central character. Dr. Seuss and others are a better way to go for beginning readers. I enjoy P. D. Eastman and this is not his best work in my opinion.

The nephew wasn’t crazy about this either. He gave it 2 stars.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Featured in grandma reads session.

PD Eastman is perfect for a few of my group - the littlest ones. They are working on the easy words in this book and so enjoyed the success reading with me provided.

The autumnal subjects, apples, pumpkins and Halloween added to their fun!

3 stars (with jack-o-lantern faces).

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does Aaron really love apples and pumpkins? They're not exactly features in this easy reader. The themes fall more in line with the season of autumn and friends. Aaron and friends play hide and seek, play football, dress up for Halloween, and go apple picking. The only pumpkin was on Aaron's head and the apples were at the end. Not was I expected when I picked up this book.

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis: "It’s autumn in this Step 1 Step into Reading early reader by P. D. Eastman, author of Go, Dog. Go! and Are You My Mother? As Aaron the Alligator’s thoughts turn to apples, pumpkins, football, and . . . ghosts, his usual mishaps occur while playing outdoors with his friends. Young readers will giggle along as they tackle the simple words and sentences all on their own. Aaron the Alligator is also a star of The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary and a long out-of-print series called Everything Happens to Aaron, the basis for this book. Look for more of Aaron’s Step into Reading escapades: Aaron Is a Good Sport, Aaron Has a Lazy Day, and Aaron Is Cool.

Step 1 Readers feature big type and easy words for children who know the alphabet and are eager to begin reading. Rhyme and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story."


My Review: I picked this book up figuring it would be a great book for the fall. While Aaron does love apples and pumpkins, he loves many other things too. This is kind of a mishmash of short 2 page statements about Aaron. While the sentences and words are easy enough for young readers to begin with, the length and fact that there really isn't any story or plot line will be discouraging. We did enjoy this book but I think Munchkin will outgrow it very quickly.

[Kate McGinty aka Caryn Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

From playing football, to dressing up for Halloween, to picking apples, Aaron loves autumn. Unfortunately, the accident-prone alligator doesn't always come out of his many experiences unscathed. Good thing he takes his mishaps well!

Aaron's laid-back attitude and willingness to keep trying set a good example for young readers. Many will find his misadventures and obliviousness amusing, especially when paired with the author's tongue-in-cheek voice. The title doesn't completely correlate with the story itself, and many of the illustrations have an old-fashioned feel -- perhaps because this is adapted from a title originally published in 1967. Still, it did age well and would be fun for a read-aloud or as an addition to a leveled library or, say, a first-grade classroom's free reading bin.

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaron the alligator, the ageless goofy star of P. D. Eastman's Cat in the House Beginner Book Dictionary, is back with his own series of beginning readers. Includes big type, easy words, repetition and appealing cartoon picture clues. Always present are Aaron's three little friends in red tunics. Definitely a retro feel: there's an old fashioned television set with antenna, and the girls wear dresses and have bows in their hair. But kids will identify with the equal opportunity antics and action.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Aaron the alligator.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple reader that supports activities in the fall.

[Elanor]

All by herself!

[Michelle Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Themes: alligators, friends

[Heather Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

megan summer reading 2016, children's book, leveled reader, easy reader, step into reading level 1, series, aaron, fall, first grade, second grade

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book with fun illustrations.

[Candi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy reader

This was a good read for my six year old who is still learning and needs simple sentences to reinforce her sight words.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The funniest page to me - when Aaron learns that his friends are talented at football as well.

[La Coccinelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is very much like Go, Dog. Go!, except that it follows one character. It's very much a beginning-reader book; there's really no story, and it's obvious that the book is meant for kids who are just learning to read words on their own. The repeating pictures seem a bit lazy to me... but the author did manage to write a book almost 30 years after his own death, so I guess I can cut him a bit of slack.

All in all, I'm not too impressed. This is just using a character as a vehicle for a very basic early reader. There's no plot, and the situations depicted only last for a few pages each (and, like I said, some of the pictures repeat, so there's really not a lot to this book).

Skip it, unless you really love Aaron the Alligator.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't mistake this for your typical sweet harvest-themed, autumnal picture book. With Aaron the Alligator as the hero, this fall is going to be funny.

I especially enjoy the juxtaposition on Pages 16 and 17.

* On Page 16 he's the cool athlete, so impressive. If he weren't green. And fictional. And an alligator. And me, a happily married human woman of 75. NO QUESTION, I'D WANT TO DATE HIM.

* But then, on Page 17 Aaron is tackled by a few gleeful toddlers and appears totally vanquished. (Also, puzzled.)

P.D. Eastman sure knows how to put the fun into step-and-stumble into reading!

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of seven books that Zander and I brought home from the library this is the first one Zander picked for me to read to him. It has such humorous, engaging pictures and such fun antics.

Talking Points: What do you like to do in the autumn time? Why? What is your favorite season of the year? Why?

Essential Oil Pairing Tips: I'd diffuse doTERRA's Harvest Spice when reading this book. The drawback is that you can only buy it in the Autumn. Diffusing cinnamon & wild orange would be a great next choice.

[Emily Bruns · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book beginning readers can practice short sentences while they read about Aaron the alligator and his friends. Aaron and his friends play hide-and-seek, football, dress up for halloween, and pick apples off the tree.

This book provides practice with short sentences which could be beneficial to young readers. This could be used for reading practice in kindergarten. This book may be problematic because all of Aaron's friends have white (actually white, not light pink) skin. This could be seen as promotion of white people over any other race.

[TheReader · Rating 1 out of 5]

No story here, just a collection of sentences. Book is not aptly titled- it did have apples and a pumpkin (among a host of other unrelated things) but there was really nothing special about them for Aaron.

As a teaching tool- maybe 1.5 stars? The words aren’t exactly easy for totally new readers and the content not exactly compelling for those that aren’t.

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars--Simple beginning reader has Aaron the alligator engaging in multiple fall activities. There's not much of a story here, but it works as an early independent reader with a silly, cute main character.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are cute books with words that don't discourage the new reader.

[Eadie Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for a Halloween reading contest. Aaron loves fall. He loves apples, pumpkins and Halloween costumes. He dressed up as a ghost and the pumpkin was on his head.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aaron, who is an alligator, and his friends play games together and dress up for Hallowe'en. Fun illustrations in this step-into-reading book.

[Miss Sarah]

A preschool easy reader about Aaron the alligator participating in variety of falla ctivities including picking apples and pumpkins but always with some sort of accident involved.

[Ranee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book for beginners

[Emily Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is a bit misleading as the book is more about fall activities -- football, halloween, and apple-picking -- than apples and pumpkins in particular and Aaron's love for them.

[Darius Billings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apples went flying down on his head!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, silly beginning reader book. But what else would you expect from PD Eastman? Perfect.