5 Picture Books That Will Help Your Picky Eater

A 2018 study from the University of Reading found that reading picture books about vegetables and fruits can expose your child to a food that’s unfamiliar. We have created a list of our favorite fruit and veggie books that you can incorporate into your storytime!

 

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar By Eric Carle (2002- Penguin, 1969- World Publishing Company)

“...according to the book’s publisher, Penguin Random House, a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar is sold somewhere in the world every 30 seconds. And its enduring appeal, according to librarians and children’s-literature experts, can be attributed to its effortless fusion of story and educational concepts, its striking visual style, and the timelessness of both its aesthetic and its content.”  Source: The Atlantic

 

 

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z By Louis Ehlert (1989)

At the end of the book, Ehlert provides a detailed glossary that includes pronunciation, botanical information, the origin and history of the particular plant and occasional mythological references, with a small watercolor picture to remind the reader of what the plant looks like. Ehlert's glorious watercolor collages are lively and enticing; as in her Growing Vegetable Soup , she presents the plant world in an appealing and easily accessible manner. Both parents and children will be encouraged to sample exotic new foods at mealtime. Source: Publishers Weekly

 

 

How Are You Peeling?: Foods with Moods By Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers (2004)

"Who would have dreamed that produce could be so expressive, so charming, so lively and so funny?...Freymann and...Elffers have created sweet and feisty little beings with feelings, passions, fears and an emotional range that is, well, organic." -The New York Times Book Review

Too Pickley! Jean Reidy (2010)

This round-headed boy rejects all offered foods. A rodent companion follows him through Reidy’s pithy, energetic text, which scans and rhymes so exuberantly that it feels joyful even though it’s about revulsion. “Too wrinkly, too squishy, / too fruity, / too fishy! / Too slimy, too slurpy, / too bubbly, / too burpy!” Readers must project their own knowledge of varying textures, because Leloup’s brightly colored, flattish digital shapes don’t really convey the wrinkleyness of raisins or the sliminess of snails. But the portrayals of this boy mummified in spaghetti (“too stringy”), holding a square forkful of still-frozen peas (“too freezy”) and squinting underneath the dripping raincloud formed by the “too fizzy” seltzer explosion carry the conceptual humor. The ending’s gustatory triumph may frustrate—it’s unclear what he finally declares “So yummy!” because he’s “All done” by the time readers see it—but the verse is so satisfying that young listeners will recite along and demand seconds. Tuck in! Source: Kirkus

 

Can I Eat That? By Joshua David Stein (2016)

In a series of linguistically playful questions and answers about food, journalist and restaurant critic Stein suggests an exchange between an insatiably curious child and a good-humored parent. “Can I eat... a potato? ... a tomato? ... a tornado?!” reads one early question. “No, you can’t eat a tornado! It’s made out of wind,” is the response, which goes on to highlight global dishes (tonnato sauce, tournedos, tostadas) that keep the freeform rhyme going. Source: Publisher's Weekly