I grew up in the “fruit belt” of southwest Michigan, surrounded by fields of blueberries, raspberries and concord grapes. Because of this, I’m drawn to works with agricultural motifs. So when my colleague Sonia DiMaulo told me she was writing a book based in an apple orchard, I couldn’t wait to read it.
The Apple in the Orchard is a fable with the theme of emerging leadership. Sonia’s elegant prose is paired with the gorgeous illustrations of Constantina Kalimeris to create a powerful message: feel the fear and do it anyway.
The book is a very quick read. As Sonia told me, “you can savor it with a good cup of coffee” and that’s just what I did. The beauty of the book is in its simplicity- the story is brief, but there are multiple meanings that I derived from the telling of Brave Apple’s journey to meet Red Harvest.
Ken Blanchard, whom I consider to be a master at the fable-as-business-book genre, loved The Apple in the Orchard, saying, “[This] is a lovely little book with a profound message: To pursue greatness, aspiring leaders sometimes must dare to leave the familiar.” If you’re a fan of Blanchard’s The One Minute Manager or Leading at a Higher Level you’ll enjoy The Apple in the Orchard too.
The book is available on Sonia’s site theappleintheorchard.ca. If you go to the site, you’ll see all sorts of great bonus goodies, including this fun “I Am Ready to Lead” button.
If you read the book, I’d love to hear what you think. Drop me a line.
Disclosure: I received a copy of the book for the purposes of writing this review.
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