A cheerful, fun approach to good food with the authentic flavor of folk tales for kids 4 to 8.
In this illustrated children’s book, modern fairy tales encourage children to eat delicious fruits and vegetables.
Talking vegetables, a hungry dinosaur and a cabbage-loving emperor: These and other characters populate the six stories in this collection. In the first, for example, “The Pea and the Princess,” a brave little pea wishes to be sown by a true princess, so he goes in search of one. First a toad tries to eat him, then a rabbit, then a mouse, who grabs him—but is caught by a buzzard, pea and all. The mouse drops him into a castle garden, where he’s found by a true princess and planted. The kingdom’s children get to eat the resulting peas. A food artist, organic gardener and teacher, Alexander playfully encourages good eating habits in her debut story collection. Her stories possess genuine fairy-tale cadence in sentences such as “She put two apples and a goose feather into a bag and went into the forest.” Other successful fairy-tale techniques include building up the story through repetition or deciding to settle a quarrel by asking the first passerby to help. Alexander’s humorous phrasing also appeals: “The giant had only just finished eating and was snoring loudly. Poor squirrels! Unfortunate moles!” The beautifully done illustrations help tell the story; fruits and vegetables are hidden on every page (broccoli trees, an asparagus fence), and finding them is part of the fun. With their well-crafted rhythm and rhyme, the stories are perfect for reading aloud. The book can be didactic, with each story ending in moralistic lesson: “Full of vitamins, you see, / Is our little strawberry. / And we’ve learned through tale and song / That to brag and boast is wrong!” While the lessons are positive, some of the language may be a bit confusing for kids (“Although sometimes quite capricious / Cabbages can be delicious”).
A cheerful, fun approach to good food with the authentic flavor of folk tales for kids 4 to 8.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1502596390
Page Count: 56
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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