It’s Friday! It’s Friday!
And what a week it has been here in Wild Kingdom!
First, there was the teeny frog who accidentally wandered in last Friday (see Wednesday’s post!)
Then on Wednesday a pretty little doe showed up in the front yard toward evening unable to bear any weight on her right front leg. She seemed happy enough nibbling the tender grass, but she was decidedly lame. I have seen her twice since, still not putting that foot down, but learned that she has a fondness for cantaloupe rinds! Did you know white-tailed deer ate those? I had no idea! But apparently they’re quite a delicacy.
And just look at my tiny porch garden! It hasn’t died yet!
Zucchini on the left, tomato on the right 10 days ago
Zucchini on the left, tomato on the right today!
My baby veggies are actually growing! It’s nothing short of miraculous! Of course, I’m waiting for the deer to figure out they can reach up onto the porch… 🙂
Today is the last Perfect Picture Book before our annual summer hiatus, and my not-yet-dead veggies inspired me to choose a book about salad! Which, who would have even thought there would BE a picture book about salad?! It just goes to show, picture book writers, that if you can dream it up someone somewhere will be interested in reading it!
Title: 1 Big Salad: A Delicious Counting Book
Written & Illustrated By: Juana Medina
Viking Books For Young Readers, June 2016, Nonfiction
Suitable For Ages: 2-4
Themes/Topics: concept (counting), nonfiction, nutrition/food, imagination
Opening: “1 one Avocado Deer.
2 two Radish Mice.”
Brief Synopsis: “Starting with one avocado deer and working up to 10 clementine kittens, the anthropomorphic fruits and veggies in this counting concept book come together to create one big and appealing salad.” (From the School Library Journal review)
Links To Resources: the book itself is an appealing education in salad items, and the last page includes a simple, healthy recipe for salad dressing; talk about different kinds of salad – green salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, potato salad, etc. What makes a salad? Brainstorm different items you could put in a salad – different lettuces, veggies, nuts, seeds, raisins/dried cranberries/clementine segments etc. What kinds of things do YOU like to put in your salad? Make your own salad! Eat it! 🙂
Why I Like This Book: First of all, what a fun concept for a counting book! Who would have thought salad could be counted? 🙂 Second, the language and illustrations use imagination to dress up vegetables (which some kids might not be so keen on), turning them into animals – cute, entertaining and fun. A regular avocado might not be so interesting, but when it looks like a deer? How fun is that?! The book invites a discussion of what makes a great salad and will encourage kids to try making (and eating!) their own. A great choice for picky eaters, young chefs, or anyone who likes to play with their food 🙂
Text and illustration copyright Juana Medina 2016
I hope you like it as much as I do 🙂
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂
And even though this was our last Perfect Picture Book Friday until September 9th or 16th (depending when I get back in gear 🙂 ) please keep joining us here for Would You Read It Wednesdays through July – the only complete vacation month around here is August! 🙂
Oh, and by the way, I’m terrible about remembering to tell people about these things, but What’s The Story Cards are now available if you email me. Check them out!
They come in a nice little box.
If you open the lid, you can stand the cards up to make it easy to pick randomly with your eyes closed 🙂
The cards look like this:
And they come with an instruction card that looks like this:
Front
Back
And they’re great for sparking and generating story ideas! Good for writers who need an idea, families on summer road trips (a whole new spin on car/airplane entertainment), or a fun game while roasting marshmallows around the camp fire 🙂 So feel free to holler if you want some 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
A wonderful choice to start the summer season, Susanna. I LOVE salad, and I love the idea of a salad-based picture book. I hope your garden continues to thrive so you can enjoy some home-grown additions to your salads this year.
Congrats on the Story Cards! Happy summer, and happy salads!
Wendy BooydeGraaff wrote a really sweet picture book called Salad Pie. It’s about a young girl who uses her imagination to make a salad pie out of leaves, twigs, etc.
Ooh! Great title! Sounds terrific! I’ll have to check it out 🙂
Hi Susanna, the book looks delish, as do your veggies, enjoy them as they produce this summer! Hope the doe is on the mend and keeps a fair distance from your delicacies too. Enjoy the summer, and the little library image is ready to move your way, just let me know.
Oh, those cards look neat! How much are they?
The counting salad book looks like such fun. Clementine kittens… what a cool thought. Congrats on the story cards. They look like fun. I’ll remember to check in on Wed. in July for dessert and story pitches.
Great PPBF Pick! 🙂 It sounds like a good book! 🙂
And your card set sounds amazing! 🙂
Joanna Cardenas showed us this book at NJ SCBWI last weekend. Looks great! My PPBF post didn’t get finished for today. :((
I like the pots you have your veggies in. What kind are they? What a great book. I’ll make sure to pick that up for my son. And expect an email from me about your What’s The Story Cards. =)
Congratulations on the porch garden. Isn’t it so shocking when plants live? And grow? And thrive? I usually photograph my plants and chronicle their miserable deaths.
Great idea for a story. Love your vege plants. I’m tempted to come over and snip the runners off the tomato plant though. We usually do that to encourage it to grow tall and produce more fruit. Depends on the type of tomato plant you have. 🙂 Love the idea of the cards for writers. Will email you.
Oh noooooo! PPBF is closing for your summer. Oh Gee! Well those cards will come in handy for me through our winter 🙂 Thanks Susanna.
Interesting tip about the tomatoes, Diane!
The salad concept sounds like a good toss! Ha! Your veggies look healthy, makes me jealous, my zu keys just got their 4th leaves! Congratulations on the cards!
LOVE the cards…and the book looks good enough to eat. 🙂 😉
Have a beautiful summer, Susanna…I will try my best to stop by on Wednesdays.
Are these cards you’ve made? How much are they? They look cute! And I bet they’d be a great writing prompt set for the classroom as well. =)
Yes! I use them for writing workshops with kids all the time 🙂
Perfect book to start the summer! And, kids can help!
This book sounds fun! I love the avocado deer. So cute!
I love that you have the What’s the Story cards. I remember you talking about these a while back. What a great tool.