LAUREN Thompson's story begins, "This is the pie, warm and sweet, that Papa baked."

But how did Papa make the pie? Start with apples, "juicy and red," then the tree, "crooked and strong," and so on until we come to "the world, blooming with life, that spins with the sun, fiery and bright "

Perfect for this time of year, "The Apple Pie That Papa Baked" is a rollicking picture book illustrated by Jonathan Bean in tones of cream, sepia, black and red, evoking classic illustrations by Virginia Lee Burton and Wanda Gag.

Thompson's exuberant text is well-matched by Bean's rounded shapes and beautifully paced page design. In a fitting end to the circular tale, the last page shows the father and his little girl dozing under the apple tree, two forks resting on an empty plate as a fox creeps up to the remains of the pie, and a crescent moon smiling down on the scene.

"Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You A Pie" is Robbin Gourley's re-creation of the rural childhood of noted Southern cook Edna Lewis. Lewis, who died in 2006, was a Fredericksburg-area native. She was born and raised and buried in the small Orange County community of Freetown, where she learned the country ways she held so dear.

In the book, Lewis and her family first gather wild strawberries, then move on as the seasons progress to enjoying wild greens, sassafras tea, honey, cherries, blackberries, peaches, tomatoes, melons, corn, beans and grapes.

Each harvest comes with its own traditional rhyme or saying, so when Edna harvests apples, she sings, "Don't ask me no questions, an' I won't tell you no lies. But bring me some apples, an' I'll make you some pies "

The lusciously colored illustrations combined with the vivid descriptions of fresh, seasonal food make this a book you won't want to read on an empty stomach--but if you do, Gourley includes traditional recipes for apple crisp, pecan drops, and corn pudding. Yum!

The Golden Delicious is one of the most common apples in the grocery store, but it was once as rare and precious as a jewel, as Anna Egan Smucker explains in "Golden Delicious, A Cinderella Apple Story."