You're Toast and Other Metaphors We Adore

by Nancy Loewen, Donald Wu

Here's a BRIGHT IDEA ― read this book! It's a PIECE OF CAKE! Even if you're sharp as a tack, metaphors can be confusing. But this colorful, silly picture book by Nancy Loewen is sure to engage and educate young readers, while teaching them about various figures of speech. A must read!

Genres: Picture Books, Writing

24 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Nancy Loewen grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, surrounded by library books and cats. She's published more than 140 books for children. FOUR TO THE POLE (co-authored with polar explorer Ann Bancroft) and THE LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN were Minnesota Book Award finalists. Her WRITER'S TOOLBOX series received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers.

Nancy lives in Saint Paul and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. She has two adult children and a cat who sometimes bites her knees under the table as she writes.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Through a story about two siblings, Etta and Cory, who both want the last slice of their grandmother's pie, readers learn all about metaphors. As the youngsters compete for the dessert, various metaphors are included in the storyline. Brief notes about some of the phrases are included at the bottom of some of the pages. The expressions of the characters in the illustrations are realistic, and I really liked how the author points out the oddity of some metaphors. Young readers will be drawn into the book because of the cover showing Cory and Etta as two slices of toast popping from a toaster.

[Alisha Painter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is cute and short picture book to teach kids about metaphors and idioms. It has bright and colorful illustrations, examples, and explanations throughout. It's a quick and easy read too. It would be a good addition to an introduction lesson about metaphors. Students could use the examples and think of their own metaphors after they read. Examples like, "Out of this world" have an illustration but also explains would the author meant by using that metaphor. It would help students to understand what specific metaphor or idioms would mean. It would also help students to understand that not all language is literal.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A colorful, useful, and informative picture book about these odd phrases that make up the English language. "A Metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two things. These things are different, but they're also alike in at least one way. A metaphor shows what the two things have in common."

You're Toast and Other Metaphors We Adore is not only a great book for fun, it also teaches a great lesson in a way kids will connect to.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover of this book caught my eye right away! I just love it! It teaches a good lesson by learning metaphors using phrases and sayings that are heard often.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun and well done with great art and it was smart.

:)

I like it when children's books do not treat them like idiots, but which instead, strive to teach them new things.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids really had fun with this book. We laughed at the funny pictures and came up with lots of other metaphors. A fun way to teach them about metaphors.