Published Dec 28, 2022

Review of Robbin Gourley’s “Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie”

By Will George Nelsen Martin

I read a book called “Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie.” It is about Edna Lewis. She grew up farming in the South and became a famous chef. The book was written by a lady named Robbin Gourley.

Here is what the book is about: A girl, Edna, picks food from her family’s farm during each season of the year. Some of the food she turns into fresh treats. The rest of it she saves for winter. She is a good cook. My favorite thing she made in the book is strawberry shortbread. Edna and her family sing lots of songs. The songs are pretty nice, and not creepy. The paintings are really nice too.

My favorite part of the book is when she gets honey because I like honey and that she and her dad were able to find the honey in the wild. One of the foods she made that was new to me is blackberry cobbler. I didn’t know the word “cobbler.” It sounds like a word my little sister made up.

There are five recipes in the back of the book. The first one I want to make is strawberry shortbread. I love strawberry shortbread. I like this book and want to share it with my friends and then everyone in the world.

Thank you, Practical Farmers of Iowa.

Will George Nelsen Martin
Holdfast Farmstead

Will is 7 years old and lives with his parents and little sister on 50 acres outside Mount Ayr, Iowa. They raise Kiko goats and KuneKune pigs that they use to regenerate their land and help their family and community be more resilient. Learn about the farm at instagram.com/holdfast.farmstead.


Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a PiePublished: 2009 (Reprinted September 2016)

48 pages

By: Robbin Gourley

Ages: 4-8

Long before the natural-food movement gained popularity, Edna Lewis championed purity of ingredients, regional cuisine, and farm-to-table eating. She was a chef when female chefs—let alone African American female chefs—were few and far between. With lyrical text and watercolor illustrations, Robbin Gourley traces the roots of Edna’s appreciation for the bounties of nature through the seasons. Folk rhymes, and songs about food are sprinkled throughout the text, and five kid-friendly recipes and an author’s note about Edna’s life are included.