Food Fabulous Food - Picture books about food - newly published titles and some older favourites

It is with great excitement that I share with you some newly published picture books that feature food and good nutrition and would make excellent companion texts for titles like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  For those of you who know me well, you know I have a little addiction to picture books and need to emphasise that picture books can be used across all year levels, not just in the early years.

You can read my previous blog posts about Monster Chef here and here.

This Hungry Dragon is a newly published picture book from Scholastic.  This new title would be an excellent companion text to the There was an old lady who swallowed a...and the There was an old man who swallowed a...series.  The hungry dragon eats and eats until he is as big as a house and explodes.  This is a wonderful rhyming text and is also fabulous as a mentor text for teaching adjectives.

You can preview the resource I made for this picture book here which includes rhyming words games based on the book and vocabulary activities.

Budburra's Garden is a lovely picture book written by the children at Cherbourg State School.   A summary of the storyline from the website states:  

Join Sammy on a journey through Budburra’s garden, eating yummy foods and learning the colours on the way!

Budburra’s Garden introduces children (3-5 years) to the healthy eating concept of “eating a rainbow everyday” using colours and foods.

The book is artwork driven and very interactive, utilising repetition, descriptive words, visual clues and a back section including discussion points, fun recipes and bush tucker information.

I love the fact that this picture book was published in Cherbourg as I have a bit of a penchant for supporting the work of our Australian Indigenous picture book authors and illustrators, regardless of their age.

What's terrific about this picture book is that it introduces children to different nutritious foods (fruit and vegetables) according to their colours.  It is also terrific to use as a mentor text to reinforce learning about adjectives.  It also introduces students to traditional fruits and vegetables, but also traditional Australian Indigenous foods.  The picture book includes information about the bush tucker found in Budburra's Garden at the back of the book and recipes to "Colour Yourself Healthy".  I really think this is a powerful picture book with potential to be used on many levels.

I love Amy Krouse Rosenthal's previous titles Spoon and Chopsticks which are terrific companion texts to use with Spork by Kyo Maclear.  You can read my previous blog post about these titles here.  I love Amy Krouse Rosenthal's picture books as they take a real twist from different perspectives, so they are just terrific for critical literacy.  The blurb for Little Pea states:

If Little Pea doesn't eat all of his sweets, there will be no vegetables for dessert! What's a young pea to do? Children who have trouble swallowing their veggies will love the way this pea-size picture book serves up a playful story they can relate to.

Oliver's Vegetables and Oliver's Fruit Salad are lovely picture books that join this text set of companion texts of picture books that have similar themes and can be used together to consolidate learning.  Oliver's Vegetables is a terrific companion text for The Very Hungry Caterpillar as it also reinforces learning the order of the days of the week.  Read more on the author Vivian French's website here.  I must say I love growing my own veggies so this picture book really appealed to me and it is terrific for encouraging kids to try different nutritious foods.
Piranhas Don't Eat Bananas is another hilarious rhyming text by Aaron Babley.  You can preview my rhyming words games resource to support this picture book here or by clicking on the image of the resource. You can view other resources I have made to support Aaron Babley's picture books here.  

My resource for Thelma the Unicorn has been particularly popular, probably because the picture book has such an important storyline about self-acceptance and self-belief.  You can read about the awards this picture book has won here.

Piranhas Don't Eat Bananas has been shortlisted for the 2016 Australian Children's Book Week Awards!!

Together the picture books reviewed in this post would form the basis of a fabulous unit of work about food and to encourage healthy nutrition choices.

Watch this space as my next blog post will include a freebie for Budburra's Garden.

A big shout out and thank you for those of you who leave a comment on my blog posts, who follow my blog and who share my blog posts with their networks.  It is very much appreciated.