Let me start by saying the amount I disliked this book is no reflection on the author. I think his intentions were good and I absolutely LOVE his bookLet me start by saying the amount I disliked this book is no reflection on the author. I think his intentions were good and I absolutely LOVE his book Go the F@ck to Sleep.
In a similar vein to the author's other books, this book works as adult satire intending to poke fun at the ridiculous lengths adults will go to in order to control their kids' eating habits. However, it seems like it is marketed to children instead, and it is not a good book for them.
On the surface, this is a lighthearted story about kids turning the tables on their parents by trying to make them eat healthier food. It pokes fun at parental hypocrisy as the parents only want ice cream, fast food, etc. and retch with contorted faces at vegetables.
Unfortunately, I don't think the book succeeds at making its point, if it was actually written for kids. It ends up only serving to emphasize several disturbing, yet pervasive ideas about food in American culture:
a. Vegetables are disgusting and don't taste good. b. People always hate vegetables. c. We should use bargaining and pressure to force people to eat things they don't want to try. d. We should eat all of our food whether we are full or not. e. There are "good" foods and "bad" foods.
I hate to break the American culinary mind, but children hate what we teach them to hate. They will try things if we offer them over and over again. Some reviewers mentioned poverty and food deserts, so I don't mean that as an indictment of people in poverty--just as a criticism of our general cultural attitudes about vegetables.
If your child is American and has somehow escaped hating vegetables, sentences like these in the book, although taken out of context, can still put those ideas into their heads:
"And I know that you hate the way broccoli tastes." "You can't say kale's gross if you won't even try it." "I know you think cauliflower's weird and bizarre."
At the end of the story, the family eats all of their "healthy" food regardless of whether they were full or not, and rewards themselves with a few donut holes.
My 3-year-old daughter asked me, "Why?"
I told her, "Well, dessert tastes good and so sometimes we have a little bit of it."
I haven't been reviewing every book I read with Lily lately because that would get crazy nowadays, but this one stood out to me for how awful the messI haven't been reviewing every book I read with Lily lately because that would get crazy nowadays, but this one stood out to me for how awful the message was (in my Millennial-parent opinion). Which is too bad, because I love many other books by Kevin Henkes.
Owen the mouse is very attached to his yellow blankie. This isn't really a problem until the judgmental busybody neighbor lady shames his parents into deciding that it's time to take the blankie away. Mom and Dad proceed to pressure Owen to relinquish the blankie before he starts school, then "compromise" by chopping it into pieces so that he can take age-appropriate(?) handkerchiefs instead, thus avoiding the social stigma of having a blankie.
It's a delightful, charming story about caring more about what other people think of you than you do about your child.
Very cool story about the history of the occupants of a farmhouse. Since I've enjoyed some of Sophie Blackall's other books so much, I checked this onVery cool story about the history of the occupants of a farmhouse. Since I've enjoyed some of Sophie Blackall's other books so much, I checked this one out from the library. I'm not sure Lily was quite as into it as I was--she's too little to get the nostalgia of old things.
The illustrations were made using found materials in a dilapidated farmhouse on a property that Blackall purchased. She researched the family with twelve children that used to live in the house and created this gorgeous book to tell their story and make sure that their house, which had once held so much life, was not forgotten.
I love the lyrical way she tells her stories as much as I love her illustrations. Sophie Blackall is an artist whom I'll keep following....more
2022 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Winner
Gorgeous book about an owl rolling into town with its "night lunch2022 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Winner
Gorgeous book about an owl rolling into town with its "night lunch cart." In the middle of the night, the owl supplies old style food truck goodies to other animals.
The illustrations are almost what I would call impressionistic (although I don't know if that would be an accurate label) in muted tones with a purplish tinge. It looks like maybe they were done on scratchboard and then painted--usually picture books nowadays have an explanation of the medium in them, but I don't have it with me to check....more
2022 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Winner
Super fun picture book translated from Norwegian about Bo's attemp2022 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Winner
Super fun picture book translated from Norwegian about Bo's attempts to stall bedtime. His mom uses gentle, creative parenting to enter into his flights of fancy. The illustrations imagine them as Bo sees them, turning into parrots and other animals on the slow route to bed.
The art style is cute--cartoonish and flowing at the same time. It reminded me of when Lily goes all noodly when she doesn't want to be picked up (we call her "noodle bones" when that happens).
I borrowed it from the library because of the award, but also because I have Scandinavian family background and was interested in the fact that it was translated from Norwegian. I was glad I did....more
2022 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Winner
A great book about an immigrant rooster who can't wake up the hote2022 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Winner
A great book about an immigrant rooster who can't wake up the hotel guests with his "foreign" crow (see if you can figure out what "language" it is before it's revealed on the back page. Hilarious!)
The guests tell him to be quiet in various languages. Defeated, he starts making breakfast before (he assumes) he'll go back to his own country. However, he finds that food is a universal language which not only brings people together, but gets them out of bed. The rooster has discovered his new purpose!
This book won recognition for its cartoony-yet-artsy illustrations in bright primary colors....more
2022 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Winner
The illustrations in this book aren't like anything I've ever seen2022 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Winner
The illustrations in this book aren't like anything I've ever seen before! The illustrator used a combination of embroidery (on what looks like burlap) and paint to create an homage to blues music in this story of a boy whose Yellow Dog runs away.
In the back there are some absorbing notes about the geographic progression of blues music and corresponding places where the boy looks for Yellow Dog in the story....more
Very cool picture book about mushrooms with details about mycelium, etc., in language that kids can understand. Intricate, beautiful illustrations. MyVery cool picture book about mushrooms with details about mycelium, etc., in language that kids can understand. Intricate, beautiful illustrations. My 2-year-old hasn't made it all the way through the book yet, but hopefully soon....more
Lily and I checked out this book from the public library. It has pictures of animal behinds on flaps that reveal the animMaximum 2-year-old enjoyment.
Lily and I checked out this book from the public library. It has pictures of animal behinds on flaps that reveal the animal and some information about it.
It was quickly dubbed "The Butt Book" in our house and is Lily's favorite of the books we checked out the other day....more
Borrowed this book from the library when I was getting another Jack Prelutsky book for Lily. I think Lily liked this one more--the language was a bit Borrowed this book from the library when I was getting another Jack Prelutsky book for Lily. I think Lily liked this one more--the language was a bit simpler and easier for a 2-year-old to understand, but the poems were still fun. The one about Sally sitting on a lilypad was especially good since I used to have a coworker named Sally and it's always fun to talk about lilies and lilypads with Lily.
Also, my husband is from Spokane, so when I saw that the book has a poem mentioning Spokane, that was what originally made me pick it up.
Great poems about umbrellaphants, alarmadillos and other such fantastic creatures. I think the vocabulary and puns are over the head of my 2-year-old,Great poems about umbrellaphants, alarmadillos and other such fantastic creatures. I think the vocabulary and puns are over the head of my 2-year-old, but I really like it and I'm sure she will when she's older. The illustrations use collage effects in interesting ways with cut-out paper with text on it, etc....more
The wind blows Peggy away to the city, which is nothing like she's every experienced in her life. How will she find her way back to her yard?
I picked The wind blows Peggy away to the city, which is nothing like she's every experienced in her life. How will she find her way back to her yard?
I picked this book up at the library for my 2-year-old, Lily, because her Grammy has backyard chickens. We all really enjoyed it.
Lily loved the page that shows Peggy doing all of the things in the city. I explained what all of the pictures meant, like going to the movies, going up and down the escalators, etc. It's especially fun to talk about Peggy looking at a cook book ("Oh no! Don't cook me!") and finding panties on sale. Somehow Lily decided "A chicken must wear panties."...more
Interesting book with Brian Floca's typically very detailed, cool artwork depicting New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic and people applauding tInteresting book with Brian Floca's typically very detailed, cool artwork depicting New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic and people applauding the essential workers who had to keep everything running.
Not sure my 2-year-old really got it--she's probably not going to remember any of this pandemic, fortunately.
In a weird way, now that we're coming out of the pandemic, I actually found this a little bit traumatic to read. Maybe it reminded me of being trapped in the house with a baby and not enough help. We were fortunate to have the means to order in and eat too much takeout, but nonetheless, it was still a traumatic experience to have a baby and be cut off from basically everything.
Also, there was a pretty obvious typo in the book early on, which bugged me, although I gave it back to the library, so I can't remember what it was now....more
A pink egg, a yellow egg, and a blue egg crack open to reveal little birds, but the green egg is taking a long time. What's inside?
Super fun book to rA pink egg, a yellow egg, and a blue egg crack open to reveal little birds, but the green egg is taking a long time. What's inside?
Super fun book to read with my 2-year-old daughter. We read it many times (try saying "peck-peck-peck" over and over again more than 100 times and you'll understand).
I really enjoy Kevin Henkes' pastel artwork and have been noticing even more of his books since picking this one up....more
Raccoon feels nervous about his first day at school, but with his mom's encouragement, his friend Bear to hold his hand, and a friendly teacher, Mr. GRaccoon feels nervous about his first day at school, but with his mom's encouragement, his friend Bear to hold his hand, and a friendly teacher, Mr. Green, he soon feels right at home.
Lily picked this book out from a display at Whole Foods and in my parental weakness, I bought it. We read it about 50 times that day. Fortunately the rhymes are pretty good and it actually has some consistent rhythm to the words, otherwise it would have been a lot more annoying to read it so many times in a row.
Lily's favorite part was when the teacher reads about a silly zoo....more
Very cute and funny board book, although the linguistics pedant in me felt annoyed that when Alan's false teeth were out, he could still make the "th"Very cute and funny board book, although the linguistics pedant in me felt annoyed that when Alan's false teeth were out, he could still make the "th" sound and others that are impossible to make without any teeth....more
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