Can't Getcha Out of My Head! Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship by Edward Hemingway

MAC WAS A GOOD APPLE.

Mac is a solid guy. His shape is perfect; his color is rosy red, But something is missing. He's just a little lonely, even with all those other apples to "hang" with all around him. Then one day something is different.

WHEN MAC WOKE UP, HE WAS COVERED WITH RAINDROPS AND HE WASN'T ALONE.

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THE DREAM HE JUST HAD.

"A FUNNY LITTLE WORM WAS TICKLING ME RIGHT HERE....

AND NOW I CAN'T SEEM TO GET HIM....

... OUT OF MY HEAD."

Will the Worm seems to have taken up residence in Mac's head. But it's a good thing. They are instant friends. Will seems to finish Mac's sentences for him, and they are totally compatible. It's nice to have a friend who's always with you. Until....

"LOOK AT MAC!" SHOUT THE OTHER APPLES.

"HE'S GOT WORMS! MAC'S A ROTTEN APPLE!"

Granny Smith is sour on the whole thing. The crabapples are especially bitter about Mac's new friend, and Mac is persona non grata around the other apples.

Mac has a decision to make. The other apples shun him. They think he must have a hole in his head to hang out with a worm! But Mac knows he's still a good apple!

Edward Hemingway's strange little tale of an odd couple of friends, Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship (G.P.Putnam's Sons, 2012) uses bright 1930s-style cartoon characters with stick arms and legs to illustrate this unusual story of a friendship which may be a bit mind-bending for some readers. A wormy apple may be an off-beat metaphor for a close friendship, but this tale certainly gets the attention of the reader as it looks at all sides of the friendship story. "Tender interactions between Mac and Will (they read books together, and Will finishes Mac’s sentences) make it clear that Mac’s conclusion that he’d rather be “a Bad Apple with Will than a sad apple without him” is the right one," says Publishers Weekly.