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A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month March 2021 | Filled with curious and intriguing illustrations and with an original text filled with unusual and fascinating facts, this handsome, large format picture book takes a completely new look at vegetables. Accompanying each vegetable, or sometimes a pair of vegetables as with a carrot and a parsnip which are similar although they are described as ‘an odd couple’, there is an elegant text telling something of the history of how each one comes to be on our tables, something of how each one grows and something about the traditions about how we eat them. The delights in this book are perfect for sharing for all ages.
Rows of adorable little veggies tuck themselves up for the night in their flower beds in this charming and whimsical picture book. The potatoes are closing their eyes, the tired-out tomatoes humming lullabies, and the little aubergines are already dreaming, after all, nothing’s more exhausting than growing day and night. The text is short and its rhythm and rhymes make it just right for bedtime reading while the pictures of the vegetables, cosy and smiling in their beds, will set the liveliest toddler in the mood for sleep. A worm tunnels through each page and at the book’s end he too is stretched out for the night fast asleep, his one shoe lined up tidily at the foot of the bed. Gorgeous!
Hope Jones is a smart 10-year-old who is determined to save the world. She’s already persuaded her family to change their shopping habits, now she wants them to turn vegetarian. And not just her family – Hope sets her sights on making her school cut out meat too. Winning her classmates round is one thing, the school dinner ladies quite another. The more Hope tries to change things, the more complicated she realises it is, but armed with facts and information, plus a huge amount of passion, Hope is able to persuade people to alter their habits and to make a real difference at home and school. The story is told via Hope’s blog and it makes for sharp, lively, often very funny reading. Readers will be gripped by Hope’s campaign and will finish the book just as well informed as Hope and fully aware of how the choices we make every day affect the world. The story will set readers thinking about how democracies work too and should spark all sorts of conversations.
March 2021 Book of the Month | Calling all parents facing food-related meltdowns! After introducing your food-fussy progeny to this instructive interactive picture book, you’ll never need to make a meal of meal-time again. Recommended by paediatric dieticians, it introduces children to a rainbow of delicious food through a fun family-oriented story. What’s more, the story can be lived off-the-page during real-life trips to the supermarket, helping to convince hard-to-please kids to try new foods and, as a result, it’s also certain to please parents frazzled by food-related friction. The story begins with Mummy despairing of the food in the cupboard. “She couldn’t find anything she wanted to make for dinner… I’m so bored of beige!” she grumbles. So, after deciding that “what we need is some colour!” Mummy heads to the supermarket, where she challenges her two toddlers to pick three kinds of food, the only proviso being that they must be red. Then follows a delightfully illustrated page of ravishing red foods that invites readers to decide what they’d choose. Each day they return to the shop, where the kids are issued with a fresh challenge - pick three yellow foods, three green, three orange, three purple. By the time Saturday comes around and the kids find Mummy eating a boring beige croissant, they make her a special colourful breakfast.
The young person's guide to a plant-based lifestyle | Full of information and sensible advice, this is an excellent guidebook for any young person who is considering turning vegan, or who just wants to cut back on meat and dairy. For one thing, it is packed with delicious and faff-free vegan recipes, easy to follow, easy to make and certain to be a hit with everyone in the family, even dyed-in-the-wool carnivores; but it’s also full of equally useful and appealing information on the whys of being vegan. Niki Webster explains it all in a way that feels friendly and do-able, making sure to answer FAQs on getting enough protein and vitamins as well as on the best vegan substitutes, and laying out clearly, but with a sense of passion, why veganism is about more than just food and diet. The illustrations and design make this look good enough to eat, and it successfully provides lots of food for thought too.
After the success of Yoga Babies, the best-selling duo Fearne Cotton and Sheena Dempsey are back and this time the babies are hungry! Mealtime is a joyous and often messy occasion and these babies are shown thoroughly enjoying their food. From picnics to birthday parties, cooking and shopping the book carries a positive message about being relaxed and having fun with food. Written in rhyming text and accompanied by detailed and brightly coloured artwork this is a perfect book to share at bedtime, and might help soothe a worried fussy eater!
September 2019 Book of the Month | This lovely book is packed with a whole host of ideas so that parents, with the help of their children, can throw a fabulous party themed around Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s much loved Room on the Broom picture book. It’s all there, from invitations to party games and decorations, to tasty food – cauldron sandwiches and ice cream potion anyone? All the ideas are fun but straightforward and well-explained, while extras helpfully include photocopiable and traceable pages. Guaranteed to make the party preparations lots of fun while the two hours party time itself will fly by!
Discover the seriously impressive science that goes on every time you cook or eat. This children's book explores the science of food by asking questions you're hungry to know the answers to, and putting them to the test through fun experiments. Science You Can Eat will transform your kitchen into a lab through fun food experiments. Cooking is chemistry, and the fun science experiments - such as tricking your taste buds, making slime taste delicious, and investigating some of the strangest flavours around will prove it. This exciting kids book tackles all the tasty science questions you have about food, plus plenty more that you hadn't thought of! Once you understand science, you understand food, so find out why popcorn go pop as you test it out for yourself, explore how taste is affected by smell, then discover whether eating insects is the future of food. Examining interesting ingredients and exciting eating, as well as peeking into the future of food, Science You Can Eat helps you understand what's happening with our food and why. Each page is guaranteed to leave you hungry for more.
After the success of Yoga Babies, the best-selling duo Fearne Cotton and Sheena Dempsey are back and this time the babies are hungry! Mealtime is a joyous and often messy occasion and these babies are shown thoroughly enjoying their food. From picnics to birthday parties, cooking and shopping the book carries a positive message about being relaxed and having fun with food. Written in rhyming text and accompanied by detailed and brightly coloured artwork this is a perfect book to share at bedtime, and might help soothe a worried fussy eater!
Children fascinated by TV cookery programmes will learn just what’s involved in being a chef from this book, as well as lots about nutrition, hygiene and even kitchen equipment. The introduction explains that being a chef is not just about making delicious food, though obviously that’s important, but is also about managing a team of cooks, buying the best ingredients and making sure that your restaurant is a success – leadership skills and an understanding of maths and science are all part of that. No wonder then that the book is so varied, full of all sorts of interesting information presented over appealing, colourful pages. Children are invited to observe what’s in their own kitchens, as well as given write-in challenges to complete. There are a couple of simple but tasty recipes to follow too. Fun and informative. ~ Andrea Reece Every country has its own different kinds of food. Download a map of the world featuring some of the most popular dishes across the globe. How many have you tried? One of a number of titles in the Academy series. To go to our special Academy series category click here.
Sue Hendra has an extraordinary ability to connect directly with the very young, and a real skill too for investing the unlikeliest things – vegetables, socks, and now a cake – with proper personality. Cake is really excited to receive a party invitation – he’s never been to a party before and doesn’t know what to expect. Readers of course, even the very littlest, know just what a cake’s role at a birthday party is and while they’ll be giggling at his preparations, they’ll be feeling a growing sense of apprehension too! Fortunately, there’s a twist in the tale and Cake escapes to enjoy more happy returns. The illustrations are eye-catching and bold, and this is a book that will be read and enjoyed time and time again. ~ Andrea Reece
In any Enid Blyton book you can guarantee that at some point there’ll be a lip-smacking description of food. Allega McEvedy takes inspiration from Blyton’s best-loved stories to create recipes for every time of the day: starting with breakfasts that would be enjoyed by the Naughtiest Girl in the School, her book then lists elevenses for the Secret Seven, Famous Five inspired picnics (yes of course ginger beer is included), teatime treats from the Faraway Tree, Secret Island suppers and Malory Towers midnight feasts – heaven! The recipes are excellent and each section begins with an extract from the relevant book. Jolly illustrations by Mark Beech make it even more child friendly. ~ Andrea Reece
