Great Children's Food Books

[daniellewiley]

Because food plays such an important role in my life, I love getting food-related books for my kids. With the holidays coming up, it seemed like a good time to share our recommendations of children's food books with each other. We have a few that we really love and are always looking for more.

Please remember to use the eGullet Amazon link when linking to a particular book.

My two favorites:

Little Pea

This is an adorable book targeted to three- and four-year olds. Little Pea has a great life with his Pea family, but hates eating dinner! Every night, he must eat five pieces of yucky candy in order to get a giant bowl of his favorite dessert; spinach!!

My daughter loves this book - it makes her laugh everytime we read it, and it's a fun way to get across the message that it's important to eat healthy foods.

Two Old Potatoes and Me

Dylan (my daughter) just got this book tonight as an early fourth birthday present from her Aunt. What a terrific concept...

A girl finds two old potatoes in her kitchen and she and her dad cut them up and plant them in the garden. The book (with great prose and charming illustrations) takes the reader through the entire planting and growing process and finishes with a mashed potato recipe. Dylan was riveted by this book and now wants to plant potatoes!!

[Gifted Gourmet]

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss (which taught my daughter to read, or so she claimed!)

Cherries and Cherry Pits by Vera Williams

Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak (a classic I still love!)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

[daniellewiley]

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss  (which taught my daughter to read, or so she claimed!)

Cherries and Cherry Pits by Vera Williams

Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak  (a classic I still love!)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs  by Judi Barrett

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Oh, I loved Chicken Soup with Rice as a kid! I had forgotten about it! Wasn't there a song based on this book? (Yep - just Googled it. Carole King wrote the music.)

I'll need to get a copy of the book for Dylie.

[Pan]

The only food books I can think of from my childhood are Green Eggs and Ham (is that food?) by Dr. Seuss and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. If I remember something else, I'll mention it.

[rjwong]

Stone soup. Edited October 28, 2005 by rjwong (log)

[Gifted Gourmet]

The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman, Marla Frazee

While Mrs. Peters lovingly accommodates her brood, Frazee's illustrations energetically depict the true story. Chaos reigns throughout the house as Mrs. Peters squeezes, strains, peels, kneads, and bakes, becoming wearier with every passing year. The minutia of a seven-child home spills around the pictures in a realistic but never obtrusive way, and the artist further bolsters the scenes with individualized and effective facial expressions and body postures.

The artwork alone will be engaging for children who can read the book by themselves already. I have given it as a birthday gift on a few occasions.

[Tepee]

Wallace & Gromit: Cheese Lover's Yearbook by Geoff Tibballs

Not only do you get a glimpse behind the closed doors of 62 West Wallaby Street, there's hilarious trivia on cheese, as we don't know it. Got me and my girls ROFL!

Edited October 28, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[maggie]

l love Bread and Jam for Frances, and Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My son credits his passion for food to Almanzo Wilder's food memories, captured by his wife in the story of his childhood. I know we could rarely get through a night's reading without wanting a snack!

[Michael Ruhlman]

And don't neglect the opening pages of Ingalls's Little House in the Big Woods, a veritable primer in curing and smokin, food preservation and the glories of the hog on the frontier.

[BryanZ]

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was a staple of my childhood. If only we lived in a world of hailing truffles and raining pinot noir...

We made stone soup, inspired from "Stone Soup", in class one day in second grade or something. A great book.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Mama Provi and the Pot of Rice story by Sylvia Rosa-Casanova, pictures by Robert Roch.

Still Life Stew story by Helena Pittman, pictures by Victoria Raymond.

Lunch stories and pictures by Denise Fleming.

Too Many Tamales story by Gary Soto, pictures by Ed Martinez.

Never Take a Pig to Lunch (And Other Poems about the Fun of Eating) selected and illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott.

We Had a Picnic this Sunday Past story by Jacquiline Woodson, illustrations by Diane Greenseid.

I believe that many, if not all, of these children's books can be purchased on Amazon. May require some Googling because I am a bit short of time to do so.

[lcdm]

If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Joffe Numeroff, Felicia Bond

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff, Felicia Bond

The Little Red Hen

I found an updated version (although I have not read it) The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) by Amy Walrod, Philemon Sturges

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka, Lane Smith

[kitwilliams]

...Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  My son credits his passion for food to Almanzo Wilder's food memories, captured by his wife in the story of his childhood.  I know we could rarely get through a night's reading without wanting a snack!

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Oh, you beat me to the punch. The descriptions of the food at the Wilder house are the greatest. Piles of donuts and cookies. Hams and potatoes and jellies and pies and pies and pies. And apple and popcorn and cider by the fire before bed every winter evening? Has anyone else tried the trick described in the book of taking two glasses of equal size, filling one with popcorn and one with milk, then dropping the popcorn, piece by piece into the milk and the glass of milk will not overflow?

And, yes, the simpler fare served at the Ingalls house was just as mouth-watering. I dream of picking plums on the bank of plum creek, flicking bees away from the broken, oozing skin and popping the warm plums into my mouth.

Field trip, anyone?

[Zach Holmes]

This is a great thread, I just found out my fiancee is pregnant, and I'm already getting excited about making a little foodie out of him/her

[Carrot Top]

Yoko's Lunch

Curious George and the Pizza

The M & M's Counting Book

In the Night Kitchen

Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes

Pat the Bunny. . .oops, no - that doesn't belong here!

[Lori in PA]

I second Bread and Jam for Frances! I like the other, non-food, Frances books, too.

[Pontormo]

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

(That's to make up for Carrot Top's bunny stew joke)

While not exactly about food per se, how about Lois Lenski's books about migrant workers such as Strawberry Girl?

And since no one has said it, gulp, Charlotte's Web is about a lot of things, including food.

Edited October 29, 2005 by Pontormo (log)

[Pan]

I just thought of one: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but doesn't Charlie get stuck in the works? So not for really young kids.

[Carrot Top]

Samuel Whiskers or the Roly Poly Pudding

This is wonderful. Tom Kitten goes off on an adventure and almost ends up as dinner.

The link is to the DVD which is absolutely marvelous. As is the book, naturally.

Ah! A kitten for dinner! (It may not be de rigeur for us grown-ups but how the children grow wide-eyed at the idea )

[rjwong]

If you're including Tom Kitten, you must include:

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

"... don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor."

[BryanZ]

Here's a great one for older readers, Redwall. The entire series is filled with scenes of feasting and abundance and being grateful for nature's bounty. I still love those books.

[andiesenji]

I hesitate to mention it, as it is only marginally food related but (strange as it may seem) Edward Gorey's The Haunted Tea Cosy, is very popular with quite a few children. They really seem to enjoy the rather macabre drawings, especially the weird bugs.

I collect Gorey and this particular book is in a bookcase right next to my DVD cabinet and kids just seem to gravitate to it.

My next door neighbor's grandchildren (ages 10, 8 and 7) spent an hour reading it and laughing over the pictures just last Sunday. I was surprised but my neighbor, a retired teacher, said that it is similar to their fascination with monster toys.

I never cease to be amazed with how sophistocated some children are nowadays.

Edited October 29, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[helenjp]

Tony Blundell "Beware of Boys" - a boy is captured by a wolf, who agonizes over the best way to eat his catch. The "catch" sends the wolf on various wild chases after nonsensical "ingredients", which he uses to escape. The recipes make fun reading with your boy tucked up safe and sound, though!

Redwall series...yes, if it's not about fighting it's about eating. It bored me to tears, but it must be boy stuff, because my DH enjoyed the books, even though English is not his first language.

The Little Mouse, the Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big, Hungry Bear by Don Wood - for very young kids. The parent gets the fun of figuring out just exactly who is after the strawberry!

[suzilightning]

Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert

for 2 year olds or so... the cat gets out into the garden and, try as he might, he can't catch anything but

How my Parents Learned to Eat by Ira Friedman

what happens when an american sailor in japan falls in love with a beautiful japanese girl... and how he learns to use chopsticks while she has her grandfather teach her how to use knife, fork and spoon in hte english way.

Thundercake by Patricia Polacco

a grandmother teaches her young granddaughter how to conquer her fear of thunderstorms

[Mooshmouse]

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It's the story of a caterpillar that eats his way through a week's worth of food and eventually transforms into a butterfly.

I read this book so many times to my son during his infancy and through his toddler years that I ended up memorizing the entire story, including the litany of the caterpillar's Saturday dining extravaganza. Noah knows most of the story too and can tell it from memory with a little prompting. Now that he's closing in on 4 1/2, I still whisper the story in his ear when he's crying and needs something else to focus on that distracts him from fear or pain.