Fruit Bowl

After a mother enlists her child's help in putting newly purchased vegetables and fruits away, the young speaker, whose presence appears only as a word balloon, greets the fruits as old friends: "Oh, Pear. I'm glad you're back in season." The kid makes sure each one gets safely into the bowl, but why is Tomato trying to crash the party? "You belong in the fridge with the other vegetables," says the child. Savvy Tomato has the facts on his side: he started out as a seed, he explains, as did many of his comrades who are usually classified as vegetables and now demand their rightful place in the blue fruit bowl, too. In his first foray as writer and illustrator, Hoffmann (illustrator of You Can Read) offers a fun, brain-teasing food literacy lesson that's a cornucopia of produce and wordplay. His naive-styled fruits--they look like generously proportioned cut-outs with stick arms and legs--have vivid personalities, and their gouache colors are positively juicy. Ages 3-7. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (June)

PreS-Gr 1--A disgraced tomato relegated to the crisper tries to convince readers that tomatoes are fruits. After his attempt to climb into the fruit bowl is foiled, a disappointed tomato uses logic, an X-ray, and, eventually, the wisdom of Old Man Produce to convince the audience that tomatoes really are fruits. When he regains his rightful place in the fruit bowl, tomato introduces some other vegetables that are actually fruits in disguise. An imaginative and entertaining reimagination of the relatively dull task of putting away the groceries and a thinly veiled "Tomatoes are Fruits" PSA. The anthropomorphized fruit are rendered in thick gouache paint on the bright kitchen background with simple but expressive faces and wiggly arms. The story is best enjoyed one-on-one as the text is conveyed entirely through word bubbles and readers will enjoy finding the puns, subtle and otherwise, that are sprinkled liberally throughout. VERDICT An a-peel-ing addition with lots of curricular connections. For larger collections.--Laken Hottle, Providence Community Library