Saturday, April 07, 2007

Little Pea

Little Pea
by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrated by Jen Corace

Ages : 3-6

Feel like taking a break from all the books that teach something vital? Just want a fun fun funny book to have a good laugh over? Want to delight in how a simple theme can evoke such enjoyment? Well then, grab a spoon, a couple of peas and some play doh! Yup! You heard me right! This book is not just a read...its a DO too! Let me elaborate...

There is a cute Little Pea with a Mama Pea and a Papa Pea. He is a regular little pea who does fun things, like rolling down hills superfast, hanging out with his pea pals, playing fun spoon games with his Papa, and cuddling with Mama Pea during bedtime. BUT...and there's always a but....there is just one thing that our Little Pea does not like. Candy!!!! (Sound like fun already?)

And what a miserable state of affairs that Little Pea has to eat candy EVERYDAY. Red candy, Yellow. Orange Candy. Polka dots. Striped. Swirly candy. Rainbow candy. Little Pea hated all of it! How do Mama and Papa Pea handle it? How would YOU handle it?

Somehow, with a lot of difficulty, Little Pea finishes all the candy on his plate because Mama and Papa Pea have his favorite dessert waiting for him. Sounds familiar? Its the story of every home. But wait! What does a pea, that does not like candy for dinner, like to have for dessert???? Take a wiiiiiiiild guess. And hold on to that. For mum's the word out here.

And to complete the fun of this delightful book, you can grab that spoon right about now, and play the game that had Little Pea in peas of.....oops...I mean peals of laughter. What game is that?..you wonder. Like I said, mum's the word.

Author : Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She is a Chicago based writer and this is her first book. Do visit her website. Its pretty cute.

Illustrator : Jen Corace. She is from south New Jersey and this is also her first book for children. The illustrations are quite minimal and no-nonsense. But its a delight to note how with a few arches and curves, she depicts the fun game Little Pea and Papa Pea played together.

And long after you've put the book down, you can still continue the pea-fun. Remember the play doh? Well, here's where it comes in handy. Me and my son had a ruckus of a time, and this is what we had to show for it!


And if you'd still feel better if a book taught your child something, well then *psssssssssstt*......you won't be disappointed! And you will live hap-pea-ly every after!!!

6 comments:

Praba Ram said...

Tharini -

Big fans of this book! I haven't read your review yet. Will do so, and relish the pea to the last bite!

Hap-pea to see this title! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

Tharini said...

Oh goody! Glad to see another pea-fan! :)

Praba Ram said...

wow, Tharini! the play-doh idea is awesome! Amazing how beautiful the pea and the spoons you and Akhil have made out of play-doh looks!

I didn't understand first when I looked at the spoon picture - thought it was a picture of an illustration from the book..Understood later...Awesome it looks! What a lovely craft idea to combine the book's theme!

I need to check the book out once more! We read it a long time ago...and work on the pea project for K! Thanks for this lovely review!

Shilpa said...

Hi Tharini, thanks for visiting my blog! How do you juggle so many blogs at the same time??? Anyhow, yours are a welcome change from all the food blogs I've been so addicted to for the past few months! :) Glad to know you!

Sriram said...

I read this book at a small display booth that Chronicle Books had in my office building. My first thought was that it was a funny take on the candy v/s peas battle in every household with a kid. However, I had to resist the urge to buy this book because I was afraid it might confuse my soon-to-be 3 year old daughter. What if she says "I want to have candy like the little pea in that book". While I get the humour, I was sure it would be lost on my daughter. This is probably why children's books are difficult to write.

Maybe its one of those kids books you hide under your pillow and read after your little one has gone to bed!

Praba Ram said...

Hi Shilpa -

thank you for stopping by at ST! Tharini is indeed a great inspiration for me, and for ST!

Sriram - Thanks for "pea-ping"!
Chuckled over the humor getting lost, and the kid waging a battle point...that in itself is funny!
:-)

The other thing I liked about the book is - even if a younger kid doesn't "get" it, the fact that the author has neatly wrapped all the color concepts in the book - red candy, orange candy, rainbow candy etc.. that is eye-candy in its literal meaning...Kids like me, :-)and toddlers from 1 to 3 would love to drool over that...

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