Apple: (Skin to the Core)

Extraordinary must-read memoir of coming of age on the Rez.
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Apple (Skin to the Core) is a critically acclaimed memoir in free verse by Eric Gansworth, an enrolled Onondaga writer and artist, who grew up on a Tuscarora reservation in New York State. The book's title refers to a Native American slur: Someone is an "Apple" if they're red on the outside and white on the inside. The book unfolds in poems that are vivid snapshots of his life from childhood into middle age. Growing up poor and sometimes hungry on the "Rez," he loves comic book superheroes and Batman. Cautioned by his mother that "it's a white man's world," he struggles as a Native American student against the low expectations teachers had for any student from the Rez." As a young person," writes Gansworth, "I looked a long time for a story like mine … and tired of not finding it, I decided to write my own ..." Brief references are made to a man being beaten with a baseball bat and boy who stabs kittens to death with scissors. Apple was named a 2021 Michael J. Printz Honor Book, was longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, chosen one of NPR's Best Books of 2020, and one of Time Magazine's 10 Best YA and Children's Books of 2020.
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What's the Story?
APPLE is a life told in poems. The Gansworth family are Onondagas, but they live on a Tuscarora reservation in New York State. He's the youngest of seven children and grows up in a house without running water, where 10 or 11 people sometimes share three bedrooms. His mother walks miles to her job cleaning houses and his father is almost always absent, but he's surrounded by a caring extended family. He loves comic book superheroes and Batman but wishes the Fantastic Four would see Native Americans as superheroes not "the super hapless." At 11, he's working tying grapes at a local farm to earn money for school, and at 13, he has a summer job at a garage. He's often hungry and sometimes uses an electric blanket for warmth in the unheated house. In his mostly White high school, he regularly hears things like "You've got a good work ethic" or "You've got a good grasp of grammar" ... "You know, for an Indian." A high school counselor tells him that college is not for him, that working in a garage is what his future holds, but he finds his way to a local community college. The last section of the book follows Gansworth through his 20s, 30s, and 40s, into his 50s and life as a college professor, writer, and artist. It's also a time when his poems tell of a new generation of Gansworths who are exploring and embracing their Native American heritage. Scattered throughout the book are family photos (unfortunately without identifying captions) and black-and-white reproductions of Gansworth's paintings.
Is It Any Good?
This memoir is at once heartbreaking, achingly intimate, enraging, and inspirational. A deeply affecting window into a world where books seldom travel, Apple isn't a quick or easy read. It's long, the typeface is small, and the rich content of the poems means readers need to pay close attention. But these poems will send a powerful message of encouragement to any young reader who's ever been an outsider or felt they could never dream of a future full of promise.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what Apple taught them about prejudging people. Do teachers or students in your school ever make assumptions ("She wouldn't be smart enough to take honors classes" or "He must be good at sports") about students of color or students who come from less advantaged homes?
The author writes about "the value of memories." What important lessons have you learned from your own memories or the memories shared by your parents or grandparents?
Have you ever been in a school, on a sports team, or in after school activity where you felt out of place or misjudged? Did you ever find a way to fit in?
Book Details
- Author: Eric Gansworth
- Genre: Autobiography
- Topics: Great Boy Role Models, High School, History, Middle School
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Levine Querido
- Publication date: October 6, 2020
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 14 - 17
- Number of pages: 339
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Award: ALA Best and Notable Books
- Last updated: March 8, 2021
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