Friday, October 19, 2012

Feeding Friendsies

Feeding Friendsies
By Suzanne Bloom
32 pages, ages 2 – 6
Boyds Mills Press 2011

Not long after school started this year, I wrote an article for the local paper about getting healthy, locally-raised food onto the school lunch menu.

That’s not at all what this book’s about. Feeding Friendsies may be about feeding your friends, but it celebrates imagination and mud pies.

“Lolly made a lovely, crunchy lunch from stems and leaves with flowers on top,” writes Bloom. “Will she eat it? Oh no, no, no – she made it for the butterflies.”  A pair of Swallowtails, a Monarch, and a Red Admiral flutter above a salad piled high in a gardener’s straw hat.

When Nana finally calls Lolly and her friends to lunch, there’s a table loaded with carrot sticks, blueberries and blackberries, tomatoes fresh off the vine. Will they eat it? “Oh yes. Oh yes, yes, yes!”

I love the way Bloom brings the garden community to life - the butterflies and frogs and chickadees – even the puddle-water-soup-stirring kids. I love her bold watercolor paintings and the way she plays around with the title. This is just a plain fun book to read out loud!

themes: friendship, imaginative play
exploring beyond the book: Making mud pies is pretty straightforward; you just need good dirt. But here's some ideas for other things to do with mud.There's tons of things you can do with leaves - and now's a perfect time to collect leaves. Make a collage. Turn them into leaf fairies or animals. Rake them into a big pile for jumping. Mulch a garden. Try to move the way leaves do as they fall. Follow a falling leaf - how far does it travel? How long does it take a leaf to reach the ground?

This review is part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copy provided by the publisher.

10 comments:

  1. Kids have such wonderful imaginations -- I remember really believing I could make hamburgers out of mud pies and clover when I was young. But, this book then goes one step further and shows the kids eating vegetables that are grown. What a fun book!

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    1. I loved making mud pies, but they never tasted as good as mom's chocolate chip cookies...

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  2. This sounds like a lot of fun, and the title is terrific!

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  3. Welcome to PPBF, Sally! So glad you joined us, especially because you've posted a Suzanne Bloom book! I love her. She is a wonderful person and a great writer and illustrator and I'm so glad to finally see one of her books on our list. I haven't actually read this one, so I'm glad you brought it to my attention - I'll have to read it right away! :)

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    1. Oops, I'm such a dork, Sue! Sorry about that! I was rushing and got distracted by your blog title and the picture of Sally at the top! Many apologies!

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    2. Not to worry - My crit group has given me a new name: Sally-Sue....

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  4. This book looks very enticing! I like the happy cover. And I like books about eating! Even mudpies! Feeding Friendsies looks like a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing. I'll be looking for this one!

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  5. This sounds like a cleverly written book, and one that intices children to eat healthy food. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. What fun! My boys are constantly in the sand box, mostly digging for mummies right now. But I am always amazed at how much fun a child can have with dirt or sand and a little creativity.

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  7. Imagination and mud pies! You can't go wrong! Sounds like a wonderful book.

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