Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-The appearance of peas on a child's plate causes mayhem at the dinner table. When the offending vegetable touches the picky eater's tongue, his "fingers become all wiggly," his eyes start to water, and he squirms in his seat. In a huff, the young boy accidentally swallows a pea and, much to his surprise, realizes "It tasted all right, really." Throughout the gastronomical tantrum, his parents remain calm. Dialogue bubbles capture their droll comments ("I particularly enjoyed the toe curling"), and with broccoli next on the menu, they gird themselves for more fights to come. The childlike charcoal line drawings on colored backgrounds are cleverly enhanced with photographs of the various foods, plates, and utensils. For a storytime feast, serve up this funny book with Lauren Child's I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato (Candlewick, 2000) and Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Little Pea (Chronicle, 2005).-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Preschool, Primary) You've seen what a single pea can do to a sensitive princess; now witness its effects on an ordinary kid. At every Tuesday night's dinner table, a boy's parents force him to eat his peas, even though they know that as soon as the first one touches his tongue he begins to transform into the dreaded veggie monster. Actually, his parents are more cynical than horrified. "Time for another fun-filled hour," deadpans Dad as he serves his worried-looking son his plate. The collage cartoon illustrations heighten the comedy with their droll depictions of the melodramatic eater -- when the pea enters his mouth his wide round eyes start filling with water and his feet curl like bananas -- and his weary audience. The transformation halts right as total mayhem is about to ensue, when the boys swallows a pea and decides "it tasted all right, really." And everyone is safe -- until broccoli night. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
McClements takes a distinctly parental point of view in portraying a young veggie-hater's nightly dinner-table performance. "Time for another fun-filled hour," observes Dad grimly, setting down a plate holding three seemingly boulder-sized peas in front of the hyper-dramatic lad who narrates. One touch of pea to tongue is all it takes to elicit writhing fingers ("Ahh . . . I knew it would start with the fingers"), curling toes ("That's a new one!") and twitches that are violent enough to knock over the chair as the child is transformed into . . . "a veggie monster!" Peas choked down at last, the crisis ends--but, of course, there's always tomorrow's broccoli. Created with a mix of clipped photo-bits of food and utensils and figures cut from brown paper, the illustrations have a simple look that goes with the pared-down text, the perspectives and dramatic effect reminiscent of Mo Willems's Pigeon books, but it doesn't really capture the drama like Lauren Child's I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato (2000). Still, it may help similarly picky children, and their caregivers, get over taking themselves too seriously. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
