Picky Picky! But I Don't Eat Ants by Dan Marvin

I AM AN ANTEATER.

BUT I DON'T EAT ANTS.

KOALAS AREN'T CALLED EUCALYPTUS EATERS.

JAGUARS EAT ANTEATERS, BUT THEY AREN'T CALLED ANTEATER EATERS!

What do you call an anteater who won't eat ants?

This little anteater can't be called a picky eater! In fact, he's quite the omnivore!

Tortellini is totally terrific! Liverwurst is the best wurst!

Noodles and strudels are consumed by the oodles! Antipasta is awesome, but hold the ants!

His anteater aunts try to set him a good example, guzzling their daily Formicidae. But he prefers burgers and fries!

What's an anteater mama to do to get her kid to eat what she puts on his plate? But this mother is wise; she sneaks in a subtle compromise.

A zesty little garnish on his salad??

"MOM! WHAT ARE THESE?"

Mom looks a bit smug as she reveals the origin of those piquant crispy toppings. Would you believe... fire ants?

YUM! They are delish! He will eat them here and there; he will eat them anywhere! (Thanks, Dr. Seuss!)

Dan Marvin's new But I Don't Eat Ants (Pow Books, 2017) pokes fun at picky eaters, while purposefully parsing the many types of tastes out there. Young reluctant tasters may take some comfort in Marvin's character who thinks eating ants is just weird, until he tries one type that is definitely to his taste. Kelly Fry's illustrations are colorfully executed with just the right soupcon of silliness that just suits the tale of an anteater who chows down on everything but eschews eating ants! And with the mention of unusual foods such as gazpacho and tortellini, finger foods like stuffed olives, and exotic dishes like escargot, this book is perfect for the necessary class unit on food and for the tasting party that often often follows.

Share this one with the ever-popular Green Eggs and Ham and Jan Yolen's and Mark Teague's How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? (Book & CD). (see review here.)

Hold Your Fire! Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin

MAYBE IT'S THE SMELL OF THE SIZZLING PAN.

MAYBE IT'S THE CRUNCH OF THE CRISPY TORTILLAS.

MAYBE IT'S A SECRET.

EITHER WAY, IF YOU WANT TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH WITH DRAGONS, TACOS ARE KEY.

And if you are entertaining dragons, you'd better have lots of tacos. Boatloads of tacos. Really.

But there's one thing you must NOT have with the tacos. SPICY salsa. (Not unless you want to throw a party that will make the Olympic cauldron look like a backyard barbecue.)

That means no hot chili peppers in the salsa. NO hot chilis. No jalapenos, no serranos, no anchos, no poblanos. And not even a whiff of Tabasco.

That means MILD SALSA only. What's that at the bottom of that label in really small print?

Totally Mild Salsa. {Now with spicy Jalapeno peppers.]

Jalapenos? Stop the party. Don't let those dragons get to the plates of tacos. Stop that one--the one about to take a bite!

TOO LATE!

KBLOOOOEY! Fiery breath everywhere. The dragon party is a flaming success, if you don't count the burned-down houses.

The dragons are apologetic, and get busy rebuilding the charred houses until the neighborhood is restored.

MAYBE THEY'RE GOOD SAMARITANS.

MAYBE THEY'RE JUST IN IT FOR THE TACO BREAKS.

Together again after their 2008 hit Those Darn Squirrels! (Clarion), this talented pair of jokesters are back again with another hot hit, Dragons Love Tacos (Dial, 2012). Adam Rubin contributes a breezy, off-the-cuff narrative style while Daniel Salmieri's stylized guouache and colored pencil illustrations are an object lesson in visual humor. Publishers Weekly quips that this book gives "a whole new meaning to 'housewarming,'" and says it is "off-kilter fun for those who like their picture books (and salsa) zesty and fresh."

Love at First Bite: Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael B. Kaplan

BETTY BUNNY WAS A HANDFUL.

SHE KNEW SHE WAS A HANDFUL BECAUSE HER MOTHER ALWAYS SAID, "BETTY BUNNY, YOU ARE A HANDFUL!"

BETTY BUNNY KNEW HER MOTHER AND FATHER LOVED HER, SO BEING A HANDFUL MUST BE VERY, VERY GOOD!

For one thing, Betty is a very picky eater, and when, at the end of a healthy veggie dinner, Mom has a surprise for her family, Betty's response is predictable:

"WHO WANTS DESSERT? WE HAVE CHOCOLATE CAKE!"

"I HATE CHOCOLATE CAKE!" BETTY ANNOUNCED.

"CHOCOLATE CAKE IS YUCKY! WHAT'S CHOCOLATE CAKE?"

But when her family urges her to try just one forkful, it's truly love at first bite for Betty.

"I'M GOING TO MARRY CHOCOLATE CAKE!" SHE PROCLAIMS.

"WHATEVER." SAID HER BROTHER BILL, WEARILY. "BUT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE SOME REALLY WEIRD-LOOKING KIDS."

But Betty is not deterred from her love affair with chocolate cake. She goes from being a picky eater to being a very selective eater, insisting upon nothing BUT chocolate cake.

Of course, her mother and father nix that plan, insisting that she must eat her healthy meals first, but Betty has a few work-arounds for that policy. She sneaks a slice and stuffs the leftover piece of cake into her sweater pocket on the way to school and winds up with a pocketful of chocolate goop. Mom counsels patience for her pesky daughter, but there's many a slip between cake and lip before Betty the Handful becomes a Betty the Sensible Eater, deferring chocolate gratification until after dinner.

Michael Kaplan's clever text will have older, wiser eaters snickering at his Betty all the way through his right-on picture of a picky eater, Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake (Dial, 2011). Stephane Jorisch's frisky pencil and digitally colored illustrations capture Betty Bunny's persnickety but perseverant personality perfectly, and together author and illustrator have a real winner for picture book people.

A potential side effect of this book is a sudden craving for--yes, chocolate cake! Bon appetit!~ (But eat your carrots first!)

Mom! I'm Hungry!: Bee-Bim Bop by Linda Sue Park

Almost time for supper. Rush to the store!

Mom buys the groceries--"More, Mom, more!"

"Hurry, Mom, hurry! Gotta hop, hop, hop!"

It's late afternoon and at least one little tummy is grumbling. But Mom has a favorite stand-by she knows is quick and satisfying--bee-bim bop, which means "rice and everything stirred together."

Back at home mother and daughter set to work like a well-oiled wok. The little girl measures out a pot of water for the rice and beats the eggs bubbly and fluffy for the egg pancakes, and then tosses her mom just the right cooking tool:

"Mom, catch the spatula! Flip the eggs high!"

"Hungry, hungry, hungry!"

Rice simmers and Mama chop, chop, chops, and into the stir-fry go green onions, spinach, carrots, chicken, and sprouts to sizzle up together while the daughter sets the table with spoons, chopsticks, and her favorite plates and bowls striped in blue. Mama takes up the dinner, arranging the thinly sliced egg strips, the stir-fried meat and veggies, and the rice artfully in their own serving bowls.

"Hurry, family, hurry! Dinner's on the table.

Rice goes in the middle.

Egg goes on top.

Mix it. Mix, mix, mix!

It's bee-bim bop!"

Is everybody hungry now? Who could resist Mama's best quick supper, and Linda Sue Park's delicious Bee-Bim Bop! (Clarion) certainly sets the table with a place for all of us. With warm and appealing illustrations by HuBaek Lee, Newbery-winning author Linda Sue Park takes us into a comfy Korean-American kitchen for a cooking lesson that will have almost everyone crying "Bee-Bim Bop!" too! A full recipe is appended in case readers want to try out this homey specialty themselves. Break out the chopsticks and chow down!

Linda Sue Park is the versatile author of noted historical fiction works, including A Single Shard, and The Kite Fighters, set in medieval Korea, When My Name Was Keoko, her novel of Japanese-occupied Korea, Keeping Score, a story of the post-war Brooklyn Dodgers, and her recent installment in the popular adventure series, The 39 Clues, Book 9: Storm Warning.