Illustrated by Don Tate
2 stars
Okay book. I liked the premise of teaching kids about various fruits and vegetables using a fun format, but the execution was a bit off for me.
I’m always a little squeamish about children’s books with food for characters. As soon as you put a cute face on something, it feels weird to think about eating it. Plus, the produce dances so much they start sweating and sweaty veggies was a weird image for me.
The book felt overly wordy. It was cute to have the produce come out of the fridge to throw a party while the humans were away, but the writing was so dense. There are a lot of words on each page, many of which felt unnecessary. Also, there is no consistent rhyme scheme in the book, making the flow a bit awkward.
I did like the illustrations. They were simple and fun with a crayon-like quality about them.
At the end of the book, there is information on what constitutes a vegetable and a fruit. An interesting way to learn about fruits and vegetables as well as different styles of dance, but felt a bit wordy and the changing rhyme scheme made it difficult for a read-aloud.