My Top 10 Kids Books About Food
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If you have kids then you probably read kids books. And, as I’m sure you’ve figured out: some kids books are certainly better than others.
So much so - that if you’re like me, you might keep a separate pile of books that don’t drive you crazy when asked to read over and over.
Are any of these books about food?
Well, if you’re looking to add some food for thought to your reading list - here are 10 of my favorite food-related kids books!
1 - The Seven Silly Eaters
Hands down, this is my favorite kids’ book about food. And that’s probably because The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman is about a lady - who, like me - has 7 kids but also is being driven insane by said kids.
I don’t want to ruin the whole story because it is so adorable you need to read it yourself, but essentially the gist is the kids’ picky eating is making mom crazy…and then one day they all work together to make mom a birthday cake.
Great illustrations, catchy rhymes and if your kids drive you crazy and your house is messy, this book will make you feel good about the current state of your offspring and your house.
2 - Blueberries for Sal
One of my favorite (non-food) kids’ books growing up was Make Way for Ducklings, also written by Blueberries for Sal author Robert McCloskey.
I picked Blueberries for Sal up for my kids on a trip to Maine, where McCloskey spent the latter years of his life and where this book is based.
Blueberries for Sal is sweet and slow and is about bears and a mom who cans blueberries for the long winter. It reminds me of picking blueberries with my grandmother in Pennsylvania when I was little, where like Sal, all I did was eat the berries vs. save them for the winter.
3 - Rah, Rah, Radishes! and Go, Go, Grapes!
A dietitian friend gave me Rah, Rah, Radishes! by April Pulley Sayre when our oldest girls were little and I was instantly hooked. The sister book Go, Go, Grapes! is also amazing (but a third title, “Let’s go Nuts!” we never really got into…)
I definitely suggest getting the board book versions of Rah, Rah, Radishes! and Go, Go, Grapes! because they are SO good that you’ll want to read them over and over. We had these in paperback for awhile but they disintegrated under repeated readings, so board book versions are a better bet.
Both Rah, Rah, Radishes! and Go, Go, Grapes! contain chants to a whole variety of vegetables and fruits. It’s like a cheer-leading book for beautiful pieces of produce. The photos are simple pictures from an actual grocery store and you and your kids will likely both be introduced to some new fruits and vegetables you didn’t previously know about.
Let’s just say I know what a rambutan looks like because of this book 💁♀️
4 - Nanette’s Baguette
I am game for anything Mo Willems does, but I particularly loved Nanette’s Baguette. This was a kids’ book I first discovered on Instagram and it became an immediate family favorite.
If you have EVER been tempted by the enticing smell of fresh, baked bread - well, then you will totally sympathize with Nanette, who just can’t keep herself from eating the delicious baguette that this whole delightful book is based around.
5 - Dragons Love Tacos
I know everybody else also loves Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin…but it did take me awhile to come around to this New York Times bestseller.
My quadruplet boys are obsessed with this book (…I think it’s the fire pictures), and so by the 100th or so reading I finally gave in and started to appreciate it myself.
As a taco lover who can’t really handle spice, I do have a soft spot for the dragons who simply asked not to be fed any spicy salsa. There’s a Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel now too!
6 - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
This is a classic that my parents read to me when I was little and I have passed on to my kids. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett is ridiculous and outlandish, but I love the cartoon-style illustrations and the wide array of foods from the land of Chewandswallow that get play in this book.
The book has a Henry in it, and we have a Henry - so not surprisingly, it’s one of the books Henry always asks for, but one that I never get tired of reading.
7 - Baby, Let’s Eat!
Here’s a book for the babies and it’s called Baby, Let’s Eat! by Stephan Lomp. This is a book in the Indestructibles series. These books are chew proof, rip proof, nontoxic and 100% washable.
These books are also very short :)
But this particular Indestructible: Baby Let’s Eat! is simply a few pages with foods organized by color: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Purple. So simple, but also very beautifully done - and delicious too (…your baby can literally eat the Indestructibles series book and they can’t ruin them!)
8 - Sign About Meal Time
Another great baby book about food is Sign About Meal Time, a Child’s Play book illustrated by Anthony Lewis. This book has a very simple signing guide taken from American Sign Language that children as young as 7 months can learn to help express their ideas and emotions about food.
We have Sign About Meal Time in a board book version, which is helpful and easy to wipe pages down if you’re keeping it near where your baby eats.
9 - Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast
I found out on Instagram that a real life friend of mine is the sister-in-law of Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast’s author Josh Funk…who, according to the book jacket was the childhood best friend of B.J. Novak whose children’s book “The Book with No Pictures” we also love in our house.
Now, I feel like fruits and vegetables and other healthful foods get a lot of play in the kids’ book world, so I love the feud that develops in this saga between Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast when the syrup is almost out.
If you hang out with small children, you probably know the dumb stuff they fight about. This book celebrates the same asinine quarrels, albeit in a delightfully narrated breakfast food tale with beautiful illustrations.
10 - The Tiger Who Came to Tea
Each year before Christmas when I get really lazy, I survey my Instagram audience asking about what kids books THEY would recommend and like that are about food.
(btw: this is because I subscribe to the 4 things rule for Christmas gifts for kids, another thing I learned on Instagram which I realize is beginning to sound like where I get all of my parenting advice…but basically it goes like this, get your kids 4 things for Christmas each: something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. Hence the book recs…)
So this Christmas someone on IG turned me onto The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr. First published in 1968, this book is about a “big, furry, stripy Tiger” who basically eats everything in the house, including drinking all of daddy’s beer.
At the end of the book, when all of the food is gone, I love that the parents just put on their coats and take the little kid to dinner at a cafe, where they have “a lovely supper with sausages and chips and ice cream!”
Don’t you just want to do that too sometimes?!
