Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29890 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 40 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-3?In this highly comic rhyming romp that surprisingly (and nicely) twists into a birthday story, Hoberman and Frazee tweak fussy eaters with style and panache. The author's lighthearted touch takes readers swiftly through the arrival of the Peters's seven children?each with a distinct bias for the food that he or she will or will not eat. Peter likes milk of a certain temperature, Lucy demands homemade pink lemonade, Jack limits his menu to applesauce, Mac insists his oatmeal be strained, Mary Lou consumes only "soft and squishy homemade bread," and the twins are strictly egg eaters. 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. When Mother's birthday approaches, the children, taxing in their dietary demands but nonetheless loving, decide to treat her to "A breakfast made of all the foods/that kept them in such happy moods." The result, both hilarious and satisfying, could add humor to classroom units on nutrition and to discussions on sibling relationships; the book will also be a good companion to Lee Bennett Hopkins's Munching (Little, Brown, 1985).?Barbara Elleman, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 4^-8. The combination of food and farce makes for an affectionate rhyming picture book about a family of picky eaters who drive their mother frantic. As each baby is born, it makes its rigid nutritional tastes known through bellowing demands. For example, Peter wants milk, but it must be warm, not hot, not cold. Mary Lou has to be fed "soft and squishy homemade bread. Jack--all he'll eat is applesauce. One twin wants poached eggs, the other fried. The line-and-color illustrations extend the silly fun as the comfortable house gets more and more cluttered and chaotic. Father is somewhere in the background, but the focus is on Mrs. Peters, nearly always pregnant, trying to play her cello, and increasingly overwhelmed by the appetites of her family. Then the kids surprise her, and themselves, in a gloriously messy climax that allows everyone to eat and Mom to have a life. Hazel Rochman

From Kirkus Reviews
Hoberman (The Cozy Book, 1995, etc.) renders the story of finicky eaters with an understatement that both children and those who cook for them will appreciate. Persnickety eaters--they are Mrs. Peters's cross to bear, and she has seven of them. One wants warm (not hot, not cold) milk, another lemonade (not from a can, but homemade), or applesauce, or strained oatmeal, hot bread, eggs poached and fried (for the twins). Although she loves her children, her efforts to keep them fed drive her batty--``Creamy oatmeal, pots of it! Homemade bread and lots of it! Peeling apples by the peck, Mrs. Peters was a wreck.'' On her birthday, the kids do the cooking, and from their respective preferences emerges a delicious cake. Hoberman gives this tale a droll rhyme, singsongy and fresh as paint, while Frazee's pen-and-ink illustrations, with a touch of Hilary Knight's chaos to them, mold the story with warmth and mayhem: The Peterses live in a Walden-like setting that grows with the family and mellows over the years. Point taken--the antidote for picky eaters (and for the happy trials of large families) is a good sense of humor. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Silly fun which is a joy to read!
Typically, I am not in favor of books that show bad role models but the kids in this book are SILLY eaters and most of them are eating healthy foods, just not in a healthy way. (Can you imagine living ONLY on milk or applesauce? THAT'S SILLY-- kids will understand that!) What makes this a GREAT book is the language (the poetry is SO fun to read aloud) and the illustrations which show the toll this kind of "silly eating" has on the huge and quickly growing Peters family. I love Frazee's drawings of family life showing all of the clutter and mess generated by the large family. If nothing else, it will make you feel better if you have laundry that needs folding and dishes piled up next to the sink as you take some time out and read to your kids!

My kids can't get enough of this book!
This is a great book, wonderful pictures that help to teach and tell the story. My kids love it. It's well written and fun to read. It captivates a large age span. Yes the family does end up eating cake, but you can teach about picky eating from what is happening to the mother in the pictures. This book has helped with and led to many good converstaions about healthy eating attitudes with my children (ages 7,5,&3). I love this book!

The Seven Silly Eaters
My daughter and I love this rhyming book. We bought an extra copy for her friend's birthday. It is my favorite book to read to her. I bought it when she was 4. She still loves it at 7.