Friendship, Blendship! Carrot and Pea by Morag Hood

Lee is a green pea, as round as can be.
Not one of his pals is odd. They're all like peas in a pod.

His friends are all spherical, if the truth be told.
So they hang out together. That's just how they roll.

But....

Colin is not a pea.

Clearly. He's orange, square-ish, and ...

Much too tall.

Colin is a unquestionably a carrot stick.
A rectangular solid, to be geometrically strict.

How can Lee the Pea befriend such an odd fellow? He simply doesn't roll, no matter how hard Lee shoves, and he stands out in the crowd like a sore thumb when they play hide-and-seek. But he stands tall when he plays a tower. He can bridge a gap when Lee wants to get over, and he can simulate a slide when Lee and the peas want to get down in a hurry.

Can Colin the Carrot be a friend for a passel of peas? They do have a few things in common.

They both just love to play. And there's carotene in their DNA.
In a parallel universe they are delectable edibles. And truth to tell, they are all VEGETABLES!

What's not to like, when plant pals pair up, in Morag Hood's forthcoming veggie book, Carrot and Pea: An Unlikely Friendship (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), a cheerfully charming veggie tale of bridging differences to find a unique friend. Hood's simple narrative is accessible even to emergent readers, since her standout two-tone illustrations (collaged prudently from plastic bags) tell the tale eloquently, ending in a final page in which Colin the Carrot enjoys a group hug from Lee the Pea and his rotund pals in a peas-ful plea for the power of friendship. A little lesson on many levels, from shapes to colors, to valuing differences, Hood's book brings together a familiar culinary duo in a humorous pairing that is sure to please.

And for a peas-able pleasing picture book pairing, read this new one with Keith Baker's incredible vegetable doings, LMNO Peas (The Peas Series), 1-2-3 Peas (The Peas Series), and Little Green Peas: A Big Book of Colors (The Peas Series) (read reviews here).