The Vegetables We Eat

Title: The Vegetables We Eat
Author/Illustrator: Gail Gibbons
Publisher: Holiday House 

Gail Gibbons picture book, The Vegetables We Eat, is a clear, informative introduction to the different groups of vegetables. It is a simple but an effective approach to this topic.  The facts presented for each of these vegetables are easy to understand and the pictures are very colorful for younger children. Just by children looking at the book, they can see that, vegetables grow to be different shapes, sizes, and colors.  

The bright and cheerful watercolor illustrations are great for the text, allowing children to get a close up view to each food on each and every page. The varying scenes give readers an additional perspective on the process of how vegetables grow on a farm, who is involved in their production, how the vegetables are produced and then eventually sold to stores. While the text is simple, Gibbons incorporates vocabulary and its definition with words such as fertilizers and hydroponics for students in grades 3rd-5th.

I can see myself as a teacher introducing the skill of classifying vegetables, according to size, color, characteristics, and how to effectively implement the number of servings needed each day. I feel the more fun students have with these types of activities while reading, the more inclined they will be try something new.