We love books in general, but interactive books are a double bonus. Can I Eat That by Joshua David Stein, illustrated by Julia Rothman is one such a book.

Each page of Can I Eat That  features different food stuff, with the reoccuring theme  being ‘is that something I can eat?’Can i eat that

It’s a fantastic book for kids that like putting things in their mouths or up their noses!

For example, the first page has a plate with a knife and a fork and the question “Can I Eat”, and the next page has an orange, an olive and a sea urchin.  It’s a tricky one to start, but yes, you can actually eat a sea urchin.  The next two pages tell you more about the foods on the first.

The next Can I Eat is a potato, a tomato or a tornado – then a play on the words, tornadoes are made out of wind, tonnato is a sauce from Italy, tournedos are a steak from France and tostada is as tortilla from Mexico.Can i eat that

The book asks questions too – “If I eat jelly, and I eat fish, can I eat jellyfish?” You’ll have to read the book to find out if you can! If there is “bacON is there bacOFF”, “Do fish have fingers”, “Do eggs grow on eggplants” and so on. It’s quite clever.httpwww.httpwww.keeperofthekitchen.comwp-adminkeeperofthekitchen.comwp-admin

The illustrations are good – true to life and realistic enough for children to identify the items but simultaneously fanciful and imaginative. The eggplants make me smile every time I see them. (Not least because I’ve successfully grown and eaten only two eggplants in my life. They are ridiculously hard to grow in this climate!)

Can i eat that

I specifically like that the book explores the origins of foods, where they come from, and so on. It asks the questions, then answers them simply, and in a really fun way.

Can i eat that

Can I Eat That is a lovely book for early readers with little text, and lots of visual prompts. It’s a wonderful read for a child that ‘gets’ wit and can find the joke in a double meaning. It also sparks a lot of questions from older kids, so it’s an all round great buy.

  • Hardcover: 108 pages
  • Age Range: 2 years and up
  • Publisher: Phaidon

Categories: Book Reviews

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.