This is such a cool picture book! The primary goal is to get children interested in healthy food, but it can help with teaching the alphabet, Spanish, and emotions, as well.
The book has a page for each letter of the alphabet. (In a couple of instances, two letter are combined.) Each of these pages has a face made out of food, much like what you see on the cover. The difference is that every food in that face begins with that letter of the alphabet, either in English or in Spanish. These foods are then, individually, spread around the edges of the page and labeled. On the left, English-word foods are listed, with the Spanish in parentheses. On the right, Spanish-word foods are listed, with the English in parentheses.
All of the foods used are healthy, whole foods. (Except tofu. I know many people consider that a health food, but I don’t. And it’s definitely processed.) The book is vegetarian (no meat or fish in the photos) but not vegan (cheese and milk are both here). Although we are not vegetarian, this choice makes sense because it enables the book to appeal to a broader audience. (I don’t find the veggies unhealthy just because they’re not meat!) There are fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy, and even a few seasonings, like vanilla and oregano.
There’s a good deal of variety, both in the foods chosen, and in the faces. The pages are very colorful, and a great introduction to a lot of foods that may be new to your little ones. The faces could be used to practice emotions. “Does this face look happy or sad? What about this one? How ‘ bout this face – what do you think it’s feeling?”
The novel approach to food is likely to get children interested in foods they weren’t really excited about before. There are teaching tools at the back of the book, too. There are instructions for making your own food face, with integrated shape practice. There’s a list of other healthy food projects to try.
And for parents there’s a whole section with brief descriptions of each of the foods from the book (in English and in Spanish!), with points about why they’re healthy. (For instance, you’re told that almonds are high in vitamins E, A, B-complex, C, and minerals, and that collards are high in vitamin C.)
Although the book is pretty thoroughly bilingual (even the title page is in both languages), I would consider this to be English-dominant, because it’s the English alphabet that’s used.
My children love this book, and actually delayed my review by making it disappear into their collection!
In addition to your home library, this would be an excellent addition to school and public libraries.
Disclosure: I was provided by the publisher with a copy of this book to facilitate my review. As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
Spanish Health Food…
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