Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Food Hide and Sneak
Board Book
For ages 3 to 5
Phaidon Press, 2018 ISBN: 978-0714877235
Books give us so much. They contain fabulous stories, beautiful artwork, and fascinating information. They can educate us and entertain us. It turns out that books can also ‘play’ with us.
On every spread in this clever little board book we are presented with illustrations showing several objects. All of the things that we see on the page are edible except for one, which may look like a food item, but is not. In this bookish game of hide and seek it is our job to figure out which of the items on the pages is the odd one out.
For example, on one spread we see eight things and they all look like a vegetable. There is a turnip over there, and in the corner is an eggplant. It is only when we look carefully that we realize that one of the pictures is of a tree. Its shape is so like the other veggies that we almost didn’t recognize it for what it was.
On another page is a selection of mushrooms. Some are short and squat, some are tall and thin, and most of them look like little people who are wearing big hats! Then we notice that something about one of the mushrooms doesn’t look quite right. It turns out that what we are looking at is, in fact, an open umbrella.
Children are going to enjoy exploring this mostly worldless book, which challenges them to use their eyes and their knowledge to figure it what is the odd one out on every spread.
