Little Pea and Much More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Little Pea is the most adorable little book. It is about a Pea family (yes, the green peas that kids like to play with on their plates during dinner). There is Mama Pea, Papa Pea and Little Pea and they play together just like any other family. Little Pea loves to play with his friends and listen to his Mama tell him about life when she was a Little Pea. The surprising and hilarious aspect of the book is what peas eat for dinner. One would think that Little Pea would be overjoyed each night at dinner, because in this book, Peas eat candy for dinner. Yes, that is correct. Each night Peas eat a different color candy but Little Pea is not happy about this at all. In fact, words like “Yuck” and “Pleh” are words that Little Pea uses to describe his dinner. Each night he must eat his dinner before he can eat his yummy dessert. And what do Peas get to eat for their scrumptious dessert? Spinach! Little Pea just loves his spinach and it melts my heart. Because Ms. Rosenthal is teaching good eating habits through fun and play. Her message comes across crystal clear as the child listening to or reading this book doesn’t even realize it. The message they hear is candy is yucky and spinach is yummy.
This book is part of a series in which there is also Little Hoot and Little Oink. Little Hoot is about Little Owl and how he wants to go to bed at a reasonable hour like his friends. But his Mama and Papa believe little owls have to stay up late and play. This is an excellent read, especially for getting kids to get to bed early as everyone heads back to school. Little Oink is about a little pig who wants to keep a clean and neat room. But his parents want him to be messy as can be. Ms. Rosenthal has a knack for teaching children through fun stories, illustrations and humor.
Another favorite book by Ms. Rosenthal is Chopsticks. The story is one of friendship, being there for each other yet also realizing how to be successful and independent. I not only loved the meaning, but adult humor and illustrations as well. She has countless other books that we love, including Duck! Rabbit! In which each picture could be either a duck or a rabbit using optical illusion. I Wish You More is another favorite, a sweet book about the parent child bond.
I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Rosenthal at Book Expo American 2016 and receiving a signed copy of her new book, Textbook. It is a unique book, part memoir, part reflections, part humor.
I look forward to reading many more books by Ms. Rosenthal, a very talented writer of both children’s and adult books.