Oranges

"Is in this ripe orange that I pry apart," so states Oranges by Zack Rogow and that is just what an orange represents. Rogow takes us through the journey it takes to grow an orange from the very beginnings of clearing the fields needed to plant the trees.We discover seedlings being planted, irrigation ditches being dug, shiny oranges being picked, oranges being trucked and sorted and finally arriving at a vegetable stand.This book provides a lesson for children not just on what it takes to grow an orange but in the many people who work to bring an orange to market. We meet people along the oranges journey who speak Spanish, Creole, Korean and English. Illustrations done by Mary Szilagyi are works in pastels. They are attractive and work in conjuction with the dialogue to tell the story of the orange.This is a book that does much to value the work done by people of the many diverse cultures of our nation. If you feel as a parent or teacher that this is a lesson you wish to teach your children I highly recommend it.