Module 6: The Little Pea

Book Summary: This is a little book about how a Little Pea and his short story.  The Little Pea has to eat candy before he can have his desert, which is spinach.  He gets very upset that he is forced to eat 5 pieces of candy, but is super excited when he gets his desert surprise. 

APA Reference of Book: Rosenthal, A. K., & Corace, J. (2005). Little Pea. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

Impressions: I really like how the book is short and sweet.  "This is the story of Little Pea, Mama Pea, and Papa Pea".  There are very simple illustrations and simple text that is easy to read and understand.  The pages are plain white and are not distracting to the kids.  This book almost seems to be using reverse psychology to get the kids to like eating spinach.  "Spinach! squealed the Little Pea.  My Favorite!" Very cute book for young readers and I love the silliness of it.

Professional Review: Peas, the oft-reviled legumes that can make dinnertime a battle, take center plate in Rosenthal's (Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, for adults) silly picture book about food choices--and picky eaters--turned topsy-turvy. Little Pea enjoys an ordinary life with his parents and pea pals playing, reading stories and getting lovingly tucked into bed. But the one thing Little Pea has trouble with is candy, the icky entrée that his parents insist he eat for dinner each night. As Mama and Papa Pea say, "If you want to grow up to be a big strong pea" or have dessert, candy must be eaten. Once Little Pea whines through his required five-piece serving of sweets, he's happy to top off his torture with a special treat-spinach! Young readers will take glee in Little Pea's absurd yet familiar predicament, while parents will surely identify with Mama and Papa Pea's universal struggle. Newcomer Corace's warmhearted ink-and-watercolor paintings plays up the most of ample white space, which plays up the vibrant greenness of the Pea family. Images of tiny, bouncing peas playing hopscotch, and Papa Pea flipping his boy off the end of a spoon are especially memorable. Kids are likely to view their veggies with new eyes when mealtime rolls around. Ages 3-up. 

Little Pea. (2005). (Book Review). Publishers Weekly, 252(19), 69.

Library Uses: I would use this book to talk about an alternate reality.  We could talk about what would happen if everyone had to eat candy in order to get to their vegetables and be excited about it.  I would talk to them about being creative and what else they do that's backwards and funny.