A Few Bites

Shortlisted for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Picture Book Award and selected as an OLA Best Bet for 2012

It's time for Ferdie to eat lunch, but he'd much rather find the special part for his fighter ship. When big sister Viola promises to help him, he comes to the table. But he finds broccoli on his plate, and carrots! Ever resourceful and imaginative, Viola convinces Ferdie that dinosaurs ate broccoli to escape their fiercest predators, and that carrots are just like the Orange Power Sticks that aliens eat for super vision. Doesn't Ferdie want to be just like them? Viola continues to persuade Ferdie to eat up, but when her energy finally flags, it's Ferdie's turn to create a wonderful surprise.

Just as in A Few Blocks, an ordinary event seen through a child's eyes becomes an amazing adventure. This time the children switch back and forth between the lunch table and the elaborate fantasy worlds they imagine (shown in Cybele Young's intricate paper sculptures, which she has created from paintings of the children's surroundings). At the end of the story, the world of the imagination and the everyday magically come together, and Viola and Ferdie each enjoy a few bites.