Watercress by Andrea Wang illustrated by Jason Chin

Watercress isn’t loud. It doesn’t need to be.

The prose is spare and poetic. The watercolor illustrations are subtle, immersive, and rich with emotion. This book whispers truths: about shame and pride, about family and survival, and about the painful beauty of remembering. The Wardens of Magic

Understated, deep, and heart-rending -

bring tissues. Kirkus Star review

The big mystery of this Caldecott winning book is that it was not distributed here in Australia and yet this is a story that could easily translate to our context. AND this book won the 2022 Caldecott Medal. You can still buy this book but the hardcover edition of this book costs between AUS$35 and AUS$47 and so will be beyond the budget of most school libraries. Trove only list ten public and university libraries with this book. Luckily, I was able to re-read Watercress in a public library a couple of weeks ago - Green Square Library. I discovered it there a couple of years ago. You can see the whole book on this video. Here is an interview with Andrea Wang and Jason Chin.

Here is the synopsis from Wikipedia: A young girl is in the car with her brother and parents when they come across wild watercress growing on the side of the road. Her parents excitedly pull over and instruct the children to help them gather the watercress. The girl feels embarrassed to be seen by passing cars and disgusted by the mud and snails that are on the plants. The watercress is prepared for dinner that night, but the girl initially refuses to eat it because she is ashamed of their "dinner from a ditch". Her mother brings out a picture from her childhood and, for the first time, talks about the famine that her family suffered. Feeling guilty, the girl takes a bite of the watercress. She discovers that she likes the taste and reflects on the new memory she and her family have created.

My former school had a unit of study with the Grade 6 classes about our multicultural country here in Australia - Watercress is a book I would have loved to share as a part of this class topic alongside other books about The Refugee Experience Through Picture Books. 

You should also look for this book which is based on the years in China of the great famine.

Sparrow Girl

Author note from Andrea Wang: This story is about the power of memory. Not just the beautiful memories, like the ones my mother and father had about eating watercress in China, but also the difficult ones, the memories that are sometimes too painful to share. It starts with my own distressing memory of being made to pick watercress that was growing wild by the side of the road. As the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in a small, mostly white town in Ohio, I was very aware of how different my family and I were from everyone else. It's hard to feel like you don't belong, and collecting food from a muddy roadside ditch just made that bad feeling more intense for me -- something my very practical parents didn't understand. When I was young, my parents didn't talk about their memories of China, of growing up poor, losing siblings, and surviving war. I don't blame them -- these are difficult topics to discuss with children. But it's important, too, for children to understand their family history. Perhaps if I had known about the hardships they had faced, I would have been more compassionate as a child. Maybe I would have felt more empathy and less anger. More pride in my heritage and less shame. Memories have the power to inform, to inspire, and to heal. This story is both an apology and a love letter to my parents. It's also an encouragement to all children who feel different and to families with difficult pasts -- share your memories. Tell your stories.

Prizes for Watercress:

• Caldecott Medal Winner
• Newbery Honor Award
• Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
• Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award 2022
• New England Book Award Winner
• 2021 Boston Globe – Horn Book Honor Book
• 2021 Cybils Award 

See more here. 

I previously talked about these books by Andrea Wang and Jason Chin:

Luli and the Language of Tea

Life after whale

A Taste of Home by Maryam Hassan illustrated by Anna Wilson

Tariqu's teacher announces the class will hold a special picnic and everyone is invited to bring one special dish to celebrate family and culture. The kids are excited and mention so many different foods such as yakisoba (Japanese fried noodles) and perogies (Polish dumplings).  Tariq talks to various family members and each make a good suggestion - saag paneer (vegetarian Indian curry), crispy paratha (unleavened layered flatbreads), or falooda (frozen dessert with vermicelli, jelly, rose syrup, sabja seeds, milk and ice cream). Each food leads to a description of an adventure or special experience. Finally Tariq decides. 

"He chopped onions, garlic and ginger with his dad. He picked the freshest herbs from the garden with his sister, and he mixed it all to form perfectly round patties to fry with his mum."

He has made bun kebabs. 

A Taste of Home is on the 2026 Inclusive Books for Children list. 

Make a note of this book - it is one to share for Harmony Week which this year was 16-22nd March. Check out my Pinterest for more book ideas. 

I especially loved the illustrations in A Taste of Home and then I discovered Anna Wilson is Australian but she now lives in Scotland. You can see some of her books at the end of this post.

There are a couple of things that I wish were different about this book.

1. I would have loved to find a list of all the foods and some recipes and also some cultural details about the different treats and tastes.

2. I do wish the final page had not ended with a pirate scene. I have previously talked about the link between pirates and people smugglers and the dreadful experiences of refugees. Many school libraries no longer promote pirate stories for this reason.

Companion books:

Stay for Dinner

Books illustrated by Anna Wilson:

The Librarian's Stories

Love Birds

The Adventures of Pongo and Stink by Lisa Nicol illustrated by Karen Blair

 

"Farmer Nic plonked the scones into Pongo and Stink's gaping mouths. The world immediately stopped turning. Pongo and Stink shuddered beneath their dog suits, barely breathing as a pleasure bomb of flavour exploded inside their mouths; like a fireworks finale erupting in the night sky."
"

Pongo and Stink live a happy life on the farm, but they want more! They want the farmer to give them the same delicious food they see him sharing with his old faithful farm dog such as scones with jam and cream and delicious hot toast and they also want pats and cuddles and to live the high life inside the house. But they are pigs - how can they achieve their dream?

Wait a minute. Rollo is a dog. Surely there is a way Pongo and Stink can disguise themselves as dogs? 

"I'm going to get myself a dog suit! ... It can't be that hard. I can do anything when I set my mind to it.' Stink rolled his eyes. He loved Pongo dearly and although he knew it was important to have faith in yourself, in truth, Pongo was over-confident. Sometimes she was even over-over confident. But while Pongo lived on the fanciful side of the street, she was also bold and fearless and full of ideas. And Stink liked those things about her very much."

What I liked:

• The small hardcover format and the cover along with the larger size print and the full page illustrations
• The dialogue between Pongo and Stink who seem like an old married couple
• The parts of the story where you, as the reader, know more than Pongo and Stink such as when they meet that dog that looks like a Shih tzu (spoiler alert is the fox).
• They way the two pigs just had to give into their piggy natures and take a wallow in mud and dig up all the vegetables and raid the refrigerator 
• When the pigs with their short legs and no spring try to jump into Farmer Nic's truck - that scene is truly funny and could be one you use if you are book talking in your library (Chapter 17)
• The scene where poor old Rollo is trying to round up the sheep and Pongo and Stink wreck everything - made me think of the television show Muster Dogs
• When the zips rust tight shut on their costumes and then the costume store is closed. I laughed when I read the sign that said Mr Waleed had gone away on a seven-month holiday although I wonder how he could afford this since he didn't charge Pongo and Stink any money for those dog suits.
• The trickster ending with the fox in the back of the dog catcher's truck

Things that didn't appeal to me (but kids will like)

• All the references to farts (or toots). One or maybe two would be fine but references like this always make me cringe. I think adding farts to kids' book is just cheap 'toilet humour' - again kids will probably love these parts. 
• The way Rollo, the farmer's dog, knew this pair were not to be trusted but he didn't use his nose to sniff out their fakery.
• Is farmer Nic in need of glasses? Surely these two silly pigs do not look like dogs? Kids will accept this part of course.

You could read this book in your family to children aged 6+ - it has 195 pages, 26 chapters and a large easy to read font with scattered black and white illustrations. Read this review from The Bottom Shelf.

Young readers will enjoy living through the high drama of tantalising highs and devastating lows. And they will chuckle along with the fart jokes, of which I am usually not a fan, but which suit the characters, who politely always say, “Pardon me.”  This book will leave your audience as happy as pigs in mud! Story Links

Thanks to Lisa Nicol who sent me a copy of her book. This book is sure to remind you of Babe (originally The Sheep Pig) by Dick King Smith.

Publisher blurb for Pongo and Stink: Pongo and Stink are FED UP with living in a pigsty. They want to live a life of luxury, all cosy in the farmhouse, getting loving pats from Farmer Nic while eating scones and jam on toast - just like their tormentor, Rollo the dog. When Pongo has the daring idea of dressing up as pups, the two piggies set out to chase their dreams. But will the wily fox scupper their plans? Or will Pongo and Stink discover that to be yourself is the greatest, mud-splattered adventure of all?

An uproariously funny tale about the difficulties of trying to be something you’re not, the power of true friendship and the perils of eating far too much cheese. Read a story extract

In this interview Lisa Nicol talks with Joy Lawn at Paperbark words about the process of writing The Adventures of Pongo and Stink.

This is also a 'grass is greener story' - see if you can find these picture books that explore that theme:

Daisy 

Once upon a small rhinoceros

I have talked previously about books which feature unlikely or contrasting friends. Pongo and Stink are both pigs of course, but they do have very different personalities - optimist or pessimist, carefree or worrier, performer and dreamer.

Here are two other books by Lisa Nicol for readers aged 10+ which I really enjoyed and highly recommend:

Vincent and the Grandest Hotel on Earth

The What on Earth Institute of Wonder

Fairytales and Feasts — Food in children's literature ABC Radio National

Fairytales and feasts — Food in children's literature 

Listen here

The title of this program held great promise for me - Children's Literature (tick); food and feasts (tick); and fairytales (tick). BUT sadly I was quite disappointed. The title didn't say that this was about adults sharing memories of kids books which featured food. Although the focus of the twenty-eight precious radio minutes, where some truly splendid books COULD have been shared, instead took the popular culture route and spent around half of the show with Andy Griffiths. 

The net worth of Andy Griffiths though sales of books like his Just and Treehouse series books is estimated at 25 million! I don't think ABC Radio National need to promote him. A brief mention of a couple of his food inclusions such as brussels sprouts (always a baddie - could they talk about why), peanut butter and marshmallows would have been enough. Andy Griffiths does write popular books, but he is in no way a children's book expert. 

Luckily, the producers did invite an academic, Kara K. Keeling for the second part of this show BUT because she is from the US no Australian books were mentioned (that's not a big issue for me). Other ABC Radio National Book Show presenters mentioned very old 'classics' from their own childhoods such as Where the Wild Things are and In the Night Kitchen. The content became quite nostalgic, which I didn't expect from the introduction, with lots of references to Roald Dahl and Maurice Sendak. Thank goodness we were spared Enid Blyton, but I do wish the program had not taken this nostalgic focus. All of the titles they shared are fine, but I had high hopes for some other titles to be explored AND I didn't hear any mention of fairytales except for a very brief mention of Jack and the Beanstalk! 

Claire Nicols - Matilda

Alison Lester - the Billabong Books by Mary Grant Bruce

Kate Evans - The Hobbit

Sarah L'Strange - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Cassie McCullagh - The Night Kitchen

Blurb from ABC: The books of childhood take us on adventures far from our own backyard, where we often encounter culinary delights that arouse memory and spark imagination. But if there's a common thread that runs through much of children's literature, it's that the paths to our deepest desires are stalked by danger. We explore the deep symbolism behind our favourite foodie fantasies in children's books.

The purpose of this episode of Every Bite was to promote the current ABC Radio National voting of the top 100 books (adult and children's books) so I will say I am happy the program focus was children's books. Take a look at my previous post. 

I was surprised Possum Magic didn't get a mention. Here are some other book choices for this program - some newer books and some Australian titles. Perhaps there will be a follow-up show from Every Bite. They could do a whole show just about pancakes for example:

Dear Broccoli

The Biscuit Maker

Mr Lepron's Mystery Soup

Thank you Omu!

Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten (hot fairy cakes)

Here is the book by Kara K. Keeling:

Published in 2020

Publisher blurb: Table Lands: Food in Children’s Literature is a survey of food’s function in children’s texts, showing how the sociocultural contexts of food reveal children’s agency. Authors Kara K. Keeling and Scott T. Pollard examine texts that vary from historical to contemporary, noncanonical to classics, and Anglo-American to multicultural traditions, including a variety of genres, formats, and audiences: realism, fantasy, cookbooks, picture books, chapter books, YA novels, and film. Table Lands offers a unified approach to studying food in a wide variety of texts for children. Spanning nearly 150 years of children’s literature, Keeling and Pollard’s analysis covers a selection of texts that show the omnipresence of food in children’s literature and culture and how they vary in representations of race, region, and class, due to the impact of these issues on food. Furthermore, they include not only classic children’s books, such as Winnie-the-Pooh, but recent award-winning multicultural novels as well as cookbooks and even one film, Pixar’s Ratatouille.

If you are feeling especially nostalgic you might like to look for this one (and the sequel):

The Little Library Cookbook

Here are my own nostalgic food books from my years of working in a school library are:

Where's Julius

Jam

Bread and Jam for Frances

Food in fairy tales - Goldilocks and the Three Bears; Hansel and Gretel; The Princess and the Pea; The Gingerbread Boy; and Little Red Riding Hood AND the book that brings nearly all of these together is one of my all-time favourite books to read aloud:

Jeremiah in the Dark Woods

The crocodile asks "would these be jam tarts? ... (and) by any chance would this jam be 

strawberry jam all dark and delicious from the baking ... 

And is it possible that the pastry of these tarts is a golden brown 

with glorious little crisp and curly edges?"

The Elephant and the Bad Baby by Elfrida Vipont illustrated by Raymond Briggs

I picked up a copy of this classic story from a library discard pile. I have read The Elephant and the Bad Baby (1969) to thousands of kindergarten children between 1985 and 2017. The story is terrific to read aloud because there is a chorus line which invites the children to join in "and the bad baby said yes and they went rumpeta, rumpeta, rumpeta, all down the road ... ". If you are making a list of books to share with your Kindergarten group or in a preschool you should add this title - and yes it is still available.

Publisher blurb: Join a playful elephant and mischievous baby in this timeless story of friendship and adventure. An Elephant meets a Bad Baby. And so begins a wild adventure - going 'rumpeta, rumpeta, rumpeta' down the road, and helping themselves to ice creams, lollipops, and all manner of sweet treats. But as a long line of disgruntled shopkeepers and salespeople begin to follow them, Bad Baby learns the importance of saying 'please,' and all the trouble you can get into if you forget! Packed with delightful illustrations and repetitive text, The Elephant and the Bad Baby is the perfect bedtime story for toddlers.

Here is the Kirkus review from 1969. Notice the intriguing word dirigibuilt. Read more about Raymond Briggs here. 

I did find this video which you could use without the sound as a way to read the book aloud to a larger group. I love all the things the elephant and the baby eat - ice cream, a pie, a bun, crisps (chips), and a chocolate biscuit. 

In this post, though, I want to feature the delightful art by Raymond Briggs.

British children's author Michael Rosen writes in his obituary on the death of Raymond Briggs: "I first became acquainted with Briggs' work as a parent when I read his books The Mother Goose Treasury and Father Christmas and Elfrida Vipont's The Elephant and the Bad Baby, which he illustrated. Briggs created landscapes, scenes, and familiar characters with a seemingly gentle comic ease. There were then – and still are for readers today – humorous corners and details that could amaze the child's eye, such as the tip of the elephant's trunk coming to the side from the right and grabbing an apple. 'There he is!' the children shouted."  The Guardian (Online) 11. August 2022

Louder than Hunger by John Schu

What does it feel like to eat without worry? 

Without a voice constantly 

quacking and crying 

inside your head? 

A voice 

pound, pound, pounding

yell, yell, yelling

ALL DAY.

Foreword: What if someone was brave enough to tell you the truth? What if someone dared to reveal their heart to you? The book that you hold in your hands tells a painful truth. It reveals a beautiful, broken heart. Jake’s heart. Jake is thirteen years old, and he has an eating disorder. You and Jake are about to go on a harrowing journey together; by the time you finish this book, you will be friends. Reading Jake’s story will change you. You might find that you want to reveal your heart, tell someone your truth. Telling your story can save your life. It may save someone else’s life, too. Jake knows this. John Schu knows this. That is why he wrote this book. For you. —Kate DiCamillo

Jake is thirteen. He has a voice in his head that is truly awful and it is voice that controls his actions and thought and he cannot seem to 'turn it off' or ignore it. The voice tells him he is ugly and fat and so he stops eating. He wears really baggy clothes to disguise his body and he weighs himself compulsively.

Grandma: You’re too thin. I worry. I see it even when you’re always wearing those baggy sweaters over your overalls. I don’t think you’re eating enough. You’re a growing boy. 

Me: I eat enough. I promise.

Elementary school was good, high school is torture. Jake takes some comfort though, from musicals. Louder than hunger is an autobiographical story. I used to follow John Schu when he was an ambassador for Scholastic and every time he visited a different city he would talk about the musicals he had attended - often seeing the same show many many times. This used to make me smile but now I know why. Visiting his grandmother is also a comfort. They both love musicals and the same television shows. Finally a former teacher who he visits in the nursing home where he goes as a volunteer alerts his mum that Jake is ill and after a visit to the doctor he goes into a mental health facility for adolescents. In The Pines he meet Kella

I love the way John Schu weaves into his story so many fantastic children's books (of course I would have expected him to do this!) such as Sarah, Plain and Tall; Shiloh; The Giver; Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry; and Where the Sidewalk ends. Jake also quotes poems by Emily Dickinson - I recently talked about this picture book for an IBBY Australia presentation:

Some reviewers list this book for readers aged as young as 12 but this book is so raw and distressing, I think it better suits mature readers aged 15+. The scene where Jake is fitted with a feeding tube is absolutely harrowing. My own connection to this story comes from around 1975 when I visited a mental health facility like the one in this book and I saw teens not much younger than me who were suffering like Jake - that moment had a profound impact on me. 

Written in a combination of non-rhyming poetry and prose, this elegant and unique verse-novel is propulsive and compelling. ... This visceral and raw memoir type book instantly draws the reader in and spits us out at the other end – in the best possible way. Kids' Book Review

Here is a podcast (one hour) where you can hear John Talking about his book.  You can read an extract on the Candlewick publisher page. 

John Schu (Schumacher) has made a career out of advocating for the people and things he cares about most: kids, books, and the people that connect them. He was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker for his dynamic interactions with students and his passionate adoption of new technologies as a means of connecting authors, illustrators, books, and readers. He is the children’s librarian for Bookelicious, a part-time lecturer at Rutgers University, and shares his love of reading with countless educators and students around the world. He served as the Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic Book Fairs for almost 6 years.

You know that I am not a fan of endorsements but so many very famous authors have said such profound (and true) things about this book:

“Louder Than Hunger is a powerful and important book, giving readers entry into the world of a sensitive teen struggling physically and emotionally with crippling anxiety and anorexia. Through his free verse voice, we accompany Jake into his honest, raw, vulnerable world. I think readers of all ages will empathize with him, worry for him, and root for his journey to understanding, recovery, hope, and joy. Those who know the author, John Schu, and have witnessed his boundless enthusiasm and legendary passion for reading and the transformative power of story will connect on an even deeper level upon learning that Jake’s story parallels John Schu’s own. From troubled teen to author and speaker surging with compassion and joy and willing to share it all with the world—that is John Schu.”   —Newbery Medalist Sharon Creech

I read Louder than Hunger on my Kindle but I wanted to show you the way the verse in this novel is set out - it is so sparce and so very powerful. Louder than hunger has over 500 pages but you can see from this example that you can fly through this book and you do fly through because if you are like me you just wanted Jake to feel well again and for that dread anorexia voice to at least quieten down if not completely turn off:

This is not quite the final page but I hope reading these words from Jake will help you see that he will be okay:

I say to Dr. Parker, Thank you for “forcing” me to share complicated, hard-to-think-about thoughts. You helped me see anorexia nervosa isn’t really about food.

Big Book of Colorful Foods by Olga Konstantynovska

The Adventures of Snail Ellie in the World of Fruits and Vegetables" is the creative debut of Olga Konstantinovska: she is the author and illustrator of this edition. The Big Book of Colorful Foods will introduce children to the abundant gifts of nature in a light and captivating way, including those they have already seen and those they are yet to try! The curious snail will be their guide into this wonderful world. A little snail named Ellie loves apples - juicy, red, and oh so delicious. One day, she went for a walk in the garden and discovered the amazing world of colorful vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, and berries. Follow Ellie through the pages of this vibrant book, learn about different types of food and their names, and have fun with a playful maze at the end. Welcome to the world of color and imagination! Behance

Of course, there are fruits and vegetables in this book you will recognise or might expect, but for a young child there are some that are sure to be new:

pomegranate; orange cherry tomato; starfruit; cacao fruit; feijoa; purple basil; purple eggplant; lychee; guava; fennel and pattypan.  The black page surprised me with black potato; elderberry and vanilla.

I found this book in a library. They record where they purchase each book. This one came from a Sydney store - The Constant Reader. I haven't been able to locate a web page for the publisher Clever Publishing but I did read this about them:

Clever Publishing was founded in 2010 with the purpose of changing children's lives for the better. We create a world full of fascinating experiences for families through our books, games, sets, and series. Focusing on Pre-school and Edutainment, we've developed a wide range of innovative formats with modern teaching techniques. Kids love to read, touch, and play while learning, so our program includes products for all ages, including box sets; board books; puzzle books; learning flash cards; interactive colouring, activity, and word play formats; and boards games for the entire family.

See inside the Big Book of Animals. Here are the other books from this series which I think would be a terrific addition to a preschool or Kindergarten classroom:

Considering the size of these books and the beautiful book design, these books are not expensive. I found all the titles are still available here.