Squash Boom Beet: An Alphabet for Healthy, Adventurous Eaters
by Lisa Maxbauer Price
Publisher: Blue Bay Books, LLC
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 56
Synopsis
“Stomp your feet. Squash the ground. It’s time to explore all around. March to the garden. Listen to the beat. Get ready to find something wild to eat!” …. Tasting new vegetables can be an exciting adventure, especially when trying foods like dragon tongue beans, dinosaur kale, fairy tale eggplant and candy cane beets. Journey from A to Z in this fun story and enjoy beautiful photography of exciting farm foods-everything from awesome Asparagus to green tiger Zucchini! This is the book parents have been waiting for. Kids will want to be brave eaters if it means trying these fun veggies.
Reflection
As I’ve mentioned many times before, my kids love alphabet books although they are slowly starting to outgrow them now. The mission of alphabet books is simple – start at A, end at Z – reinforcing kids’ knowledge of the alphabet. This can be accomplished through pictures, rhyming sentences, and more.
This book, printed in the USA using environmentally friendly soy-oil inks, is gorgeous. It contains 56 pages of colorful photography featuring food grown at more than 50 local farms in the Grand Traverse, Michigan region. Traverse City has been lauded as a foodie paradise – with amazing farm-to-table restaurants. The author of this book is convinced that if kids can see the wild colors; study the amazing textures; and learn the crazy names of vegetables growing near their home, they will naturally become fans. I couldn’t agree more with this.
In this playful, rhyming book kids can explore bright and colorful images of different exotic vegetables like: dinosaur kale, dragon tongue beans, kohlrabi and watermelon radish just to name a few. I’ll be honest and say I’ve never of some of these vegetables so it was great to learn something new. Seeing all of these vegetables made me realize just how limited my knowledge of specific vegetables truly is. Have you ever seen rainbow carrots? I never knew carrots could be different colors besides orange. This book also made me more aware of all the healthy things you can find at a local farmer’s market.
Although this is a children’s book, I think it can easily appeal to all ages. It makes a beautiful coffee table book and can be used as a great conversation starter with adults. Kids will enjoy the rhyming text, colorful photographs and recognizing both the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
About the Author
Lisa Maxbauer Price spent 10 years in New York City working as a magazine editor. Now that the fifth-generation Traverse City native is living back in Michigan, she continues to write for multiple national publications on health and nutrition. She has also blogged about parenting for The New York Times. She currently lives in Traverse City with her husband and three sons. Connect with Lisa on Twitter.
For more information about Squash Boom Beet, please visit squashboombeet.com or email info@bluebaybooks.com.
The Giveaway!
One (1) lucky winner will win a FREE copy of Squash Boom Beet: An Alphabet for Healthy, Adventurous Eaters. Open to all US residents age 18 and over. Good luck!
Your turn: Are your kids adventurous eaters? Feel free to share in the comments.
Most of my kids are but two are polar opposites and will not eat what the other eats.
My little guy is fairly adventurous and will try most things. The challenge is getting him to eat more than a few bites at a time! 😁
This book is great I love this book
Yes! We love this time of year and all the farmer’s markets!
I love alphabet books- you can never have too many of them. I like the way this one emphasizes produce and healthy eating.
Yes our kids are adventurous esters! They eat pretty much anything we eat, or will at least try it 2-4 times!!!
Sign me up for anything that gets kids interested in healthy eating.
nice, colorful book
My friend (and her kids) would love this book! I think the vibrant photography goes so well with the text.
I wouldn’t say they are adventurous eaters but they aren’t picky eaters either. I love this book! 🙂
Veggies! Would love this for our collection!
This looks like a great book. Perhaps we could even get some inspiration for next year’s garden.
My daughter loves veggies!
My boys are very picky eaters but I think they would love this book because of all the vibrant colors.
This would be awesome to win
What a cool book! 🙂 I would love to read this to my son… I am trying to encourage healthy foods in our house.
My kids love their vegetables this looks like a good book
it looks really really pretty 🙂 <3
Veggies my son loves his veg
My parents have a farm and we have a booth at the farmers market. My 2.5 yr old loves to cook! He loves to eat raw vegetables. This would be great for him!
I got this book at the library to see what it was like before buying it and WE LOVE IT! We definitely want to add it to our home library! I like that it has veggies that I’ve never even heard of – I’m able to learn about them along with my kids… and be a good example for them in trying new foods 🙂
This looks like such a cool book. My son loves vegetables and would get a kick out of this!
My kids were raised to eat plant based majority of the time. So they don’t have any problem tasting new veggies.
This looks like a cute book. A great way to get kids to learn the alphabet and discover different vegetables.
Great book! Thanks for the chance!
My pregnant hairstylist would love this
I love that this teaches kids about healthy eating. Love those bright and vibrant images too!
Very interested in adding more vegetables to my child’s diet.
This book looks like so much fun!! We would LOVE to add it to our shelves!!
This awesome book looks so interesting to read! I would love to win it for my son
Thank You for the chance
Love this! This would be great for my niece and nephew.
Lovely coffee table book! My whole family needs to learn to love veggies!
Ooh, I love finding these items at the farmers market and always need new prep ideas.