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Let’s Talk About You and Me
What's So Yummy?: All About Eating Well and Feeling Good
Gus, Nellie and baby Jake can't wait to go on a picnic! In the morning the family heads to their community garden, then to the farmer's market and the supermarket to gather vegetables, fruit, meat and other fresh and delicious foods. In this book, readers follow them through the day as they go home to prepare, cook and pack up the goodies.
33 pages, Paperback
First published September 23, 2014
2 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Robie H. Harris
63 books94 followersRobie H. Harris has written many award-winning books for children of all ages, including the definitive Family Library about sexuality: IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL, IT'S SO AMAZING!, and IT'S NOT THE STORK! She lives in Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 20, 2014
Age: Kindergarten-3rd grade
If you're looking for your next grocery list, look no further! This book is jam packed full of food and drink names, that tend to distract instead of educate. Although the book's intention to teach about healthy eating is always welcomed into classrooms and families, this book was way too long, too scientifically inclusive, very dry, and devoid of plot. Because there was so much jam packed into the "story" there are no supplementary materials at the end for teachers or parents.
If you're looking for your next grocery list, look no further! This book is jam packed full of food and drink names, that tend to distract instead of educate. Although the book's intention to teach about healthy eating is always welcomed into classrooms and families, this book was way too long, too scientifically inclusive, very dry, and devoid of plot. Because there was so much jam packed into the "story" there are no supplementary materials at the end for teachers or parents.
February 24, 2016
This book has a lot of great information on nutrition for kids but I felt that it did not accurately explain the seriousness of food allergies and celiac disease.
April 4, 2018
This book did not capture my attention at all and I know if it didn't catch my attention, it won't capture the attention of children reading this book. This book is super long but has good information it in. The information just doesn't go flow with the topic of the book. The book is about eating well and feeling about however, it also has information about screen time in there which I don't think should have been included. I was also not a fan of the reading passages as well as the speech bubbles I thought that should have been down differently. The illustrations are great and they match what the text say. I think it's interesting that they chose an interracial family as the characters but if does help diversifying the story more. I did like how it somewhat hinted on who not all cultures eat the same thing.
June 19, 2022
Continuing my journey through all the library's elementary-level nutrition books--
What's So Yummy is reasonably thorough high-level look at food for kids (even addressing allergies and a gluten-free diet) and handles some of the more sensitive issues of nutrition in a way that I found age-appropriate and reasonable. It's a bit on the young side for my older kids, but will work as a starting point from which they can dive deeper.
What's So Yummy is reasonably thorough high-level look at food for kids (even addressing allergies and a gluten-free diet) and handles some of the more sensitive issues of nutrition in a way that I found age-appropriate and reasonable. It's a bit on the young side for my older kids, but will work as a starting point from which they can dive deeper.
October 9, 2019
This book is full of a lot of easy-to-understand information about eating and drinking well and keeping our bodies healthy by being active, but it has a lot of text that makes it more appropriate for older readers.
June 9, 2021
For some reason, my granddaughter currently loves this book so I have read it a dozen times. It doesn’t improve with multiple reads. It is so long and the kids’ dialogue is so unrealistic. How many kids do you know who says, “Fruit is sweet, Gus. But it is also good for our bodies. And so yummy!”
February 24, 2019
Not as good as some of the other books in this series, but I still liked it.
January 8, 2020
I've liked others in the series, but this one was wordy to the point of distraction, the pictures didn't support the text well, I was bored along with my kid.
May 15, 2016
First sentence: Everybody everywhere needs to eat and drink.
Premise/plot: What's So Yummy is an informational picture book about being healthy: eating right, being active, getting plenty of rest. There is a slight story element to this one. Readers meet a family preparing to go on a picnic. Gus and Nellie are the kids in the story. What little story there is comes from their dialogue--all found in speech bubbles. The narrative is more focused on packing as much information as possible into each page. One definitely always knows that this is an EDUCATIONAL book rather than an entertaining one.
My thoughts: I thought the information in this one was fairly accurate. Even though it's published in 2014, it still seems to be (wrongly) advocate a low fat diet. Granted, I wasn't excepting a picture book to go into detail about distinguishing between good, healthy fat that is essential for your body and bad, unhealthy fat which is detrimental to your body. So perhaps if there is only going to be one sentence in the entire book about fat, I guess one could do worse than eat "just a little fat, oil, and salt."
The book never asserts how many servings per day of any one food group one should be eating. It uses words like "plenty," "some," and "just a little." The good news is that "whole grains, brown rice, cereal, and pasta aren't in the "plenty" category. I would have rather seen them in the "just a little" category, but one can't have everything. (I think two to three servings is as much as anyone really truly ever needs per day.) The only thing in the "plenty" group is fruits and vegetables.
Does the book have an opinion on sugar? Yes. I'm not sure it's quite strong enough. But it does warn against eating too much sugar and warns against drinking sugary drinks (fruit juices and soda). The book only focuses on the most obvious places to find sugar. The truth is sugar is a not-so-hidden hidden ingredient in many, many, many products. (Think of how many thousands of products high-fructose corn syrup is in.) Between sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners there are dangers everywhere. Sugar isn't just in cookies or candy. It's in yogurt, crackers, cereal, lunch meat, ketchup, dressings and sauces. To name just a few.
One statement struck me as a bit misleading or untrue. "Most everybody eats fruit and vegetables." While it's certainly true that most people don't object morally to eating fruit and vegetables, earlier sentences were about how some people choose to not eat any meat, I don't think one can say this sentence is actually true. The American diet, the so-called "Western" diet testifies to the fact that most people are not actually eating vegetables and fruit on a regular, consistent basis. French fries and potato chips are not vegetables. Tomato sauce and ketchup are not vegetables. True, one might find some lettuce, a tomato, a few pickles, a few onions on a hamburger or cheeseburger, but their slight presence does not make it a healthy meal by any stretch!
It does briefly--oh-so-briefly--talk about food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances. Since this is close to my heart--I'm allergic to eggs, intolerant of dairy and gluten--I appreciate their attempt at an explanation. It is not the focus of the book by any stretch!
Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 6 out of 10
Premise/plot: What's So Yummy is an informational picture book about being healthy: eating right, being active, getting plenty of rest. There is a slight story element to this one. Readers meet a family preparing to go on a picnic. Gus and Nellie are the kids in the story. What little story there is comes from their dialogue--all found in speech bubbles. The narrative is more focused on packing as much information as possible into each page. One definitely always knows that this is an EDUCATIONAL book rather than an entertaining one.
My thoughts: I thought the information in this one was fairly accurate. Even though it's published in 2014, it still seems to be (wrongly) advocate a low fat diet. Granted, I wasn't excepting a picture book to go into detail about distinguishing between good, healthy fat that is essential for your body and bad, unhealthy fat which is detrimental to your body. So perhaps if there is only going to be one sentence in the entire book about fat, I guess one could do worse than eat "just a little fat, oil, and salt."
The book never asserts how many servings per day of any one food group one should be eating. It uses words like "plenty," "some," and "just a little." The good news is that "whole grains, brown rice, cereal, and pasta aren't in the "plenty" category. I would have rather seen them in the "just a little" category, but one can't have everything. (I think two to three servings is as much as anyone really truly ever needs per day.) The only thing in the "plenty" group is fruits and vegetables.
Does the book have an opinion on sugar? Yes. I'm not sure it's quite strong enough. But it does warn against eating too much sugar and warns against drinking sugary drinks (fruit juices and soda). The book only focuses on the most obvious places to find sugar. The truth is sugar is a not-so-hidden hidden ingredient in many, many, many products. (Think of how many thousands of products high-fructose corn syrup is in.) Between sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners there are dangers everywhere. Sugar isn't just in cookies or candy. It's in yogurt, crackers, cereal, lunch meat, ketchup, dressings and sauces. To name just a few.
One statement struck me as a bit misleading or untrue. "Most everybody eats fruit and vegetables." While it's certainly true that most people don't object morally to eating fruit and vegetables, earlier sentences were about how some people choose to not eat any meat, I don't think one can say this sentence is actually true. The American diet, the so-called "Western" diet testifies to the fact that most people are not actually eating vegetables and fruit on a regular, consistent basis. French fries and potato chips are not vegetables. Tomato sauce and ketchup are not vegetables. True, one might find some lettuce, a tomato, a few pickles, a few onions on a hamburger or cheeseburger, but their slight presence does not make it a healthy meal by any stretch!
It does briefly--oh-so-briefly--talk about food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances. Since this is close to my heart--I'm allergic to eggs, intolerant of dairy and gluten--I appreciate their attempt at an explanation. It is not the focus of the book by any stretch!
Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 6 out of 10
January 7, 2017
"What's So Yummy" is a nonfiction book that discusses good eating habits for young readers. In the text parents explain to there children where different people get their food, how to maintain a balanced diet, and how eating affects our bodies.
As far as informational material the book does a serviceable job in helping parents start the discussion, but it should have gone further to make the topic more engaging for young readers- perhaps even getting down to the science of things. Despite that, what I appreciated about the book was it featured a multi-ethnic family, which are rarely featured in picture books. Furthermore, the novel shows a positive and healthy relationship between people of color and food, which is also frequently vacant from storytelling.
As far as informational material the book does a serviceable job in helping parents start the discussion, but it should have gone further to make the topic more engaging for young readers- perhaps even getting down to the science of things. Despite that, what I appreciated about the book was it featured a multi-ethnic family, which are rarely featured in picture books. Furthermore, the novel shows a positive and healthy relationship between people of color and food, which is also frequently vacant from storytelling.
January 16, 2015
A nice introduction to nutrition and fitness for children. I like that the book covers vegetarian, gluten-free and other alternative diets. The text reads conversationally and gives kids facts formatted in an easy to understand delivery.
Digital illustrations. No back matter; a recipe or two would've been nice or information about vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free resources would've supported the text well, but this exclusion doesn't make or break the book for me.
Recommended for PreK-2+.
Digital illustrations. No back matter; a recipe or two would've been nice or information about vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free resources would've supported the text well, but this exclusion doesn't make or break the book for me.
Recommended for PreK-2+.
October 7, 2014
This is a good book for children who are learning about eating healthfully and making positive dietary choices for their bodies. I especially like the diversity of the people represented in the book and the ease with which the information is delivered. It is a longer book, so perhaps better for those with longer attention spans.
November 24, 2015
Genre: Informational
Published: 2014
Comprehensive overview of healthy eating and lifestyle habits.It was a little dry because it tried to follow a family who was on a picnic, but the two story lines didn't mesh well. I would also consider it to be multicultural because it included a mixed race family.
Published: 2014
Comprehensive overview of healthy eating and lifestyle habits.It was a little dry because it tried to follow a family who was on a picnic, but the two story lines didn't mesh well. I would also consider it to be multicultural because it included a mixed race family.
September 23, 2016
Pretty good book for talking about the importance of healthy eating. I liked that it included vegetarian diets, as well as some information on food allergies and celiac disease. Also, I liked that the reasons for eating healthy are presents as for being healthy, growing strong, etc and not to prevent being fat. And that it is ok to eat cookies every once in a while!
February 25, 2015
WHAT'S SO YUMMY? introduces very young students to the reasons why we need food and the importance of eating from a variety of food groups. The book also touches on the signals that the body gives to indicate hunger and thirst as well as food allergies.
April 7, 2015
This non-fiction picture book provides very basic and broad information on all the sorts of foods people do and don't eat and the importance of movement. It focuses on a family going on a picnic, but the facts on a lot of different foods, families, and exercise are spread out all over.
October 17, 2014
very comprehensive. inclusive illustrations and mentions a wide variety of lifestyle choices.
November 11, 2014
I liked the intention of this book, but it was long, repetitive and disorganized. Needs major editing.
November 21, 2014
The text was not engaging.
November 12, 2024
A good look at eating well, and staying healthy through this simple verse text involving commitment, education and a desired focus to discuss the positive long term outcomes.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews