- Picture Books
- Ages 5–8
- Everyday Life
It Might Be An Apple
Part of ImaginationView the full series
A boy stares at an apple on the table and wonders: what if it isn't an apple at all? A gloriously deadpan, wildly inventive picture book that turns a single piece of fruit into a launchpad for endless what-ifs.
- Best for5–8
- FormatPicture
- Length32 pp
- Read aloud~6 min
Affiliate links — buy through these retailers and we earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Whimsical
- Thought provoking
- Absurdist
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
There is an apple on the kitchen table. Or is there? A boy comes home from school, looks at the apple, and begins to wonder: maybe it only looks like an apple. Maybe it's really a giant cherry, or a house for tiny people, or an egg that will hatch into something enormous, or a machine in disguise. From that one small doubt, Shinsuke Yoshitake spins page after page of playful, philosophical speculation, each idea sketched in his spare, hilarious linework. It Might Be an Apple is a celebration of curiosity and the questioning mind, gently insisting that the world is far stranger and more interesting than we assume. Deadpan, endlessly re-readable and quietly profound, it's the picture book that launched Yoshitake's much-loved Imagination series and shows why children and adults alike return to his work again and again. A perfect springboard for wondering, drawing and asking 'but what if...?'
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
A brilliant shared read from about 4 or 5, when the deadpan jokes and endless what-ifs land best; confident readers of 6 to 9 enjoy poring over the ideas alone. Its dry wit and philosophical streak give it strong adult crossover appeal too.
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 5–8
- Read aloud · 4–8
- Independent · 6–9
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reading together
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
5 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Imaginative play
- Philosophy for children
- Read aloud
- Curious minds
- Art inspiration
Avoid if
- Wants action adventure
- Wants a strong plot
Particularly good for children who are…
- Interested in art and creativity
- Interested in science
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A superb prompt for philosophy-for-children (P4C) sessions and creative writing: children pick an everyday object and invent what it 'might really be', practising questioning, inference and imaginative extension.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
Kids get the joke instantly: grown-ups say 'it's just an apple', but what if it isn't? Every page dares them to out-imagine the last one, and by the end they're bursting with their own wild theories about the most ordinary things in the room.
- Secret world
- Trickery and cleverness
- Adventure and freedom
Why parents love it
It's genuinely funny for adults, and it quietly teaches the most useful habit of mind there is: questioning what you're told. Yoshitake's deadpan drawings reward repeat reads, and it reliably sparks the best kind of dinner-table 'but what if...' conversation.
- Shared humour
- Beautiful illustrations
- Conversation starter
- Indie gem discovery
In the series
Imagination.
5 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Shinsuke Yoshitake.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
