Applesauce Is Fun to Wear

by Nancy Raines Day, Jane Massey (Illustrator)

Wearing food is much more fun than eating it in this sweet and sticky ode to toddler mealtime

Applesauce is fun to wear on your nose or in your hair. Toast is always nice and flat. What could make a better hat?

What’s more fun than eating your food? Wearing it, and toddlers are especially talented at that. This adorable picture book features a diverse cast of babies making a delightful mess at mealtime.

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Storytime, Childrens, Juvenile, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

Published April 6, 2021

About the author

Nancy Raines Day is the author of fourteen picture books. Her most recent are Applesauce Is Fun to Wear and Baby's Opposites. Her first children's book, The Lion's Whiskers: An Ethiopian Folktale, was a New York Times notable book of the year. She earned a BA in journalism from the University of Michigan and an MA in literacy journalism from Syracuse University. Having raised a son and a daughter, Day lives with her husband on St. Simons Island in Georgia.

Reviews

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joyful mess-making toddlers at mealtime.

[Katelynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is adorable and I think it will be fun to read for baby story time. However, the end just dropped off and I wish that it had more of a conclusion.

[Keely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a delightful story told in gentle rhyme, Nancy Raines Day makes meal times fun with playful inventiveness, as each meal is explored for wearable opportunities, and of course the bath time that follows. APPLESAUCE IS FUN TO WEAR is a delicious story sure to become a firm favorite!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful! And who doesn't love applesauce?

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will be a fun Babytime read.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this charmer of a picture book, toddlers wear all sorts of food. Applesauce in the hair and toast as a nice flat hat. Milk can make a mustache and yogurt can cover your tummy. Mashed banana makes a great set of gloves for your hands and ice cream can cool your toes. Peas are great to roll on the floor and spaghetti makes celebratory confetti. Chocolate cake covers your face. Then it’s all cleaned up in the end with bubbles in the tub.

Simple and engaging, this title has fun and rollicking rhymes for toddlers to enjoy. The delight in messiness is great fun, with a focus on foods that littles ones will likely have enjoyed already. After all, it’s a lot more fun to wear your food than eat it sometimes.

Massey’s illustrations add to the appeal of the title with a diverse cast of toddlers show using simple lines and colors. They are merry in their messes. She has caught the naughty grins of children having great fun.

A terrific toddler read for those who don’t mind a mess. Appropriate for ages 1-3.

[Aolund · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cutesy, rhyming baby book about messy eating. While the pictures are certainly endearingly-drawn, they are disappointing for their overrepresentation of White babies. If I'm being generous (counting each baby depicted as a separate baby, rather than the same baby shown two different times, say), there are 10 White babies, 3 Black babies (all of whom have light brown skin and curly brown hair), 2 Latin@/e/x babies, and 2 Asian babies. This means that there are cumulatively more White babies depicted in this book than all of the babies of color combined. The text of this book is totally fine and cute, with nice rhymes and onomatopoeias, but this kind of overrepresentation of Whiteness (and making all of the Black babies very light-skinned), is not acceptable.

[Pat Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an early digital arc of this picture book, and it's adorable. It's perfect for the parents of messy toddlers who end mealtime wearing more of their food than they ate. I have pictures of my kids covered in pudding or spaghetti from when they were small, and this book brings back great memories. This book is delightfully written and illustrated. Have run reading it to a messy eater in your life!

[Abby Johnson]

This book is my niece Harper. Harper is this book. Bouncy rhymes about all the messy ways to eat - if you have a toddler who is also a messy eater, this one is great fun. However, be aware that while the publicity boasts a "diverse cast" of babies... while the skin tones and hair textures of the toddlers do vary in the book, all skin tones represented are fairly light and all face shapes and facial features are the same cartoony shapes for all of them.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age: Infant-Toddler
Food: Mealtime

Extremely relatable experience for babies that explore their textured food. A sweet way to celebrate something that gives babies & toddlers joy, yet a bit of a headache for grown-ups on clean-up duty (this experience not pictured lol).

Two sentences per spread paired with white backgrounds and "messy" patterns give this excellent storytime and circle time appeal.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance digital review copy of this book. With adorable, messy babies and a universal theme, Nancy Raines Day’s Applesauce is Fun to Wear will have young readers giggling – and parents nodding along – with this fast, fun-to-read, rhyming picture book. Be ready to read it again, and again, and again.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good one to read at a babytime, or for parents to read to baby. Would work especially well with an older sibling who is struggling to accept how chaotic babies are. I like that this book encourages everyone to celebrate the creative messiness that comes from babies trying to eat. It will definitely get a laugh when I read it with new parents!

[Penny Klostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a review copy and can tell you without a doubt that this book is all kinds of fun. Parents will relate and kids will giggle as food ends up...well...everywhere! The bouncy rhyme and adorable illustrations are sure to make this book a favorite.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's more fun than eating your food? Wearing it! In rhyming text, diverse babies get food all over themselves. This is a perfect one for toddler storytime, especially one about baths, food, or messes. Not too long and perfectly silly.

[Rebecca Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listen, it is a baby rhyme time knockout. This could be read aloud with scarves to our messy little friends.

[Reagan Kapasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

cute rhyming story about how babies eat/play with food and ends with a bubble bath (could do bubbles for storytime at the end!)

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about food that babies love to play with.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable rhyming picture book perfect for a baby laptime or even toddler storytime. A messy eating fun story perfect for babies and toddlers to also learn part of the body.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rhyming text accompanies gorgeous illustrations of toddlers who wear their food, all kinds of food. This would be lots of fun for baby or toddler story time.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful addition to a baby storytime.

[Pamela Groseclose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for baby storytime

[Susan Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute...even if a little stressful. :)

I remember cleaning up those messes. Haha.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny story about babies making a mess with food while they are eating. This would make a fun storytime book.

[Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

PLAY, PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

[Elizabeth]

Cute until your child deliberately imitates all the kids in this book. I mean, sure, they probably would be messy anyway, but why encourage it? Or is this considered leaning in? :-)

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book about the delightful textures of food. Might encourage messiness, but it is sweet and joyful!

[AnneLibrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute addition to my "baby storytime" choices!

[Amy Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

rhyming text, "rare words"

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I "dialed a tale" for my library's summer reading challenge and this was the story. Yay for food messes, LOL.