Resources – Food-related Storybook Recommendations
Family-Friendly Storybooks to Read with your Children
Using Children’s literature – both fiction and nonfiction – children also learn about the source of their food – how it is produced, grown, and transported from farm to table, making these concepts accessible and fun for young children.
Many of these books can be found at your local library. If you choose to purchase the book for your home library, please consider making your purchase through Amazon Smile here. For every book purchased, Amazon will make a donation to Spoons Across America.
If you want to further explore healthier eating with your children, check out our three new at-home programs Food Explorers Club, Farm to Book Storytime, and Food Exploration Project – Homeschooling.
How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?
Written by Margaret MacNamara and
Illustrated by Brian Karas
Mr. Tiffin and his students explore skip counting and estimation in a fun pumpkin-themed classroom experiment!“ How many seeds are in a pumpkin?” Mr. Tiffin asks his class as they gather around the big, medium, and small pumpkins on his desk.This book makes a wonderful read-aloud companion to any math or science curriculum, and it’s a fun way to reinforce counting skills at home.
How Did that Get into My Lunchbox
Written by Chris Butterworth
Illustrated by Lucia Gaggiotti
One of the best parts of young child’s day is opening a lunchbox and diving in. But how did that delicious food get there? From planting wheat to mixing dough, climbing trees to machine-squeezing fruit, picking cocoa pods to stirring a vat of melted bliss, here is a clear, engaging look at the steps involved in producing some common foods.
Bread is for Eating
Written by David and Phyllis Gershatorand
Illustrated by Emma Shaw-Smith
A bilingual, rhythmic celebration of bread, from farmer to baker. This playful, English-Spanish children’s book traces the process and production of traditional South American bread making from harvest, to crafting, to packaging, and its sale on the market.
Seedfolks
By Paul Fleischman
Newbery-winning author Paul Fleischman uses thirteen speakers to bring to life a community garden’s founding and it’s first year. The book’s short length and diverse characters have led it to be used in countless one-book reads in schools and in cities across the country.
The Vegetables We Eat
By Gail Gibbons
Peppers, beans, corn, and peas! Learn how they grow, how they get to stores, and how many kinds there are—and learn some weird trivia, too! Gail Gibbons lays out the basics of veggies with colorful watercolors and straightforward text.
You Can’t Taste a Pickle with Your Ear
Written by Harriet Ziefert and
Illustrated by Amanda Haley
How come a pickle on your ear isn’t delicious? In this book children discover how each of their five senses is hard at work all day long, providing them with information and helping them get the most out of their daily lives.
To Market, To Market
By Nikki McClure
Alternating between story and fact, this lovingly crafted picture book follows a mother and son to the weekly market. As they check off items on their shopping list, the reader learns how each particular food was grown or produced,
from its earliest stages to how it ended up at the market. To Market, to Market is a timely book that shines awareness on
the skill that goes into making good food.
The Apple Pie Tree
By Zoe Hall
Illustrated by Shari Halpern
Two young sisters follow the progress of their apple tree through the seasons, from a bare tree in the winter, through the pink blossoms of the spring, to the apple picking in the autumn.