Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #197384 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Customer Reviews

...Or how to get children to eat their food
Charlie's sister Lola is a very fussy eater. She will *not* eat peas, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and most other foods.

In this story, Charlie is left in charge of Lola at dinner time. He tricks her into eating by pretending that carrots are actually 'orange twiglets from Jupiter', etc. In this way, he manages to get Lola to eat all her food, even her moonsquirters (tomatoes).

I really enjoyed this book and think that mums and dads could copy these tricks for their children!

Play Along with the Joke!
Many young children don't like tomatoes. Some retain that distaste into adulthood. This story shows that stated fussiness about food can simply be a way of getting attention. Parents: Pay attention to this story! The colorful collages of photographs and childlike drawings bring excitement and freshness to the story.

Lola is a "small and very fussy" eater. Charlie is assigned by their parents to feed Lola.

Lola begins to expound her theories:

"carrots are for rabbits"

"peas are too small and too green"

Lola goes on to list peas, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, spaghetti, eggs, sausages, cauliflower, cabbage, baked beans, bananas, and oranges as banned items. She also notes her reservations about apples, rice, cheese, and fish sticks. "And I absolutely will never not ever eat a tomato." Sounds like peanut butter and jelly are coming up to me.

Then Charlie attacks directly by putting out some carrots. Lola looks at them and says, "Then why are those carrots there, Charlie?"

"Those are orange twiglets from Jupiter," says Charlie.

"Mmm, not bad," Lola replied, "and took another bite."

Charlie puts out peas and describes them as "green drops from Greenland" and Lola finds them "quite tasty."

Mashed potatoes become "cloud fluff from the pointiest peak of Mount Fuji," and Lola decides "I love to eat clouds."

Fish sticks become "ocean nibbles from the supermarket under the sea -- mermaids eat them all the time." Lola wants to know if she can have more.

Suddenly Lola turns the tables, "Charlie, will you pass me one of those?" Lola continued, "Yes, of course, moonsquirters are my favorite." "You didn't think they were tomatoes, did you, Charlie?"

Obviously, Lola knows that they are playing a game, and she likes it. The new game seems like more fun than laying down the law about what she will and won't eat. The game puts her in charge by letting her name the foods, as well as her usual game of saying what she will not eat. Charlie makes room for Lola to assert herself, and all is well.

With children, there is a tendency to treat them like subjects of a King or a Queen. Actually, they feel quite grown up at a young age and want to have some autonomy. Choice of foods can simply be a testing of limits. But all children would rather have fun, and can easily be distracted by making the potential confrontation into a game, instead. This book eloquently makes that point, and ensures many more peaceful hours in many households.

After you finish reading the story, you should think about where else you can kid your child out of her or his bad mood. Come to think of it, when will that approach work with adults as well?

Look for the potential to improve every communication!

A refreshing sense of humor
This story depicts a fastidious sister and her witty brother. Lola is Charlie's little sister; she is always fussy about her food. It is hard for Charlie to give Lola her dinner, because she can always find some ludicrous or comical reason to refuse to eat anything she dislikes. One day, Charlie played a trick on Lola. Charlie with his excellent eloquence persuaded Lola to eat some of the food that she would not normally ever taste.
Vivid similes and evidence of a vast imagination is found in this amusing book. This is helpful for young children to cultivate their creative thinking.Generally speaking, the text is delightful. You can try to read aloud slowly the words for things that Lola hates to eat, in order to enhance the fun by the way you read them. Through the conversations between Charlie and Lola, we can see Charlie's trickery is successful.
Vibrant illustrations are a perfect match for this funny story. Different forms of typographical characters and the winding layout of sentences aptly reflect the character of Lola and Charlie. However, when I read this book the first time, I was really surprised at the illustrations, because some of them are drawings and some of them are photographs. Although sometimes the drawings and photographs are a little bit quirky, they are well suited to the text.
This book is suitable both for children and for adults who have to deal with fussy eaters for whom the book gives ideas to imitate, in a way that will make them laugh!