Eat Your Peas, Ivy Louise

May 9, 2005
Landry's (The Snow Ghosts
) sprightly story introduces an imaginative—and clearly not ravenous—towheaded toddler whose mother drops a spoonful of peas on her high-chair tray. As the child watches the diminutive veggies roll, they sprout arms, legs and smiley faces and proceed to form a pyramid. A spotlight shines on a pea wearing a top hat, who presents "the amazing, stupendous Tender Tiny Peas!" Jumpin' Dave does a high dive into Ivy Louise's drinking cup, another pea with comically bulging arm muscles lifts a barbell and several others demonstrate pea-upon-pea balancing acts, performed by "those super-snappy, roly-poly acrobats." When the ringmaster announces the tiny beings' exit, guess who obliges? But contrary to some youngsters' expectation that she will actually swallow these affable entertainers, the gal finds another way to help them offstage. With well-balanced servings of minimal, snappy text and spare watercolor-and-pencil illustrations, Landry serves up an appetizing sliver of a tale, which parents will hope does not plant ideas in youngsters' heads. Ages 2-6.

June 1, 2005
PreS-K -Ivy Louise is busy with her dinner. On her high-chair tray are some Oatey-O's and a spoonful of peas. As she watches, the peas form a pyramid, and a small green ringmaster introduces -the amazing, stupendous Tender Tiny Peas! - The diminutive vegetables entertain the child with their circus act while her unseen parents encourage her to -eat your peas. - Everything the performers need for their stunts is already on the tray: the cup for the high dive, the Oatey-O's for the weight lifter, and the blocks for the acrobats. All of this leads up to a death-defying, surprise ending. Landry's watercolor-and-pencil illustrations are simple and uncluttered, but very effective, enabling readers to focus on the action. The Tender Tiny Peas are framed by curved lines and borders that emphasize the circus theme, and dramatic colors enhance their performances. This book is a great storytime choice for small groups or as a one-on-one read-aloud. Children will want to know what happens tomorrow night when Ivy Louise has bananas. - "Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2005
PreS. While adults nag her to eat, a toddler in a high chair plays with her food and imagines her peas acting out all kinds of wild circus scenarios. The scenario is fun, but the audience for this will be older than the high chair crowd, who may not understand the images of acrobats in pyramids and the ringmaster in his top hat. What little ones will enjoy is the fantasy mischief in the pencil-and-watercolor pictures, and the funny words about "super-snappy, roly-poly acrobats." Best of all is the truth of the small child's secret world, which adults know nothing about.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2005
It might look like she's just rolling them around in distaste, but Ivy Louise can't eat her peas when they're performing such splendid circus acts (high-diving into juice, balancing on alphabet blocks) on her high-chair tray. The small, square design is a neat but ample canvas for the pea-sized acrobatics, and Ivy Louise is a benevolently godlike participant-observer in the fun.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2005
But how can Ivy Louise eat those peas when they're performing such splendid circus acts on the tray of her high chair? It might look like Ivy Louise is just rolling them around in distaste, but she's actually a front-row fan of the "Tender Tiny Peas" as they high-dive into the juice, lift weights with the Oatey-O's, and balance on the alphabet blocks. The ringmaster gathers the peas together on a spoon for one "final act of daring and courage," and the tender tiny troupe goes up, up, up . . . and out the window. As the text laconically notes, "Dinnertime was over." Plenty of toddler-centric picture books credit their heroes with cuteness, but this one gives Ivy Louise points for her imagination as well. The small, square design is a neat but ample canvas for the pea-sized acrobatics, and Ivy Louise, a daffier variant of a Joan Walsh Anglund child, is a benevolently godlike participant-observer in the fun. The watercolors, led by the fresh spring green of the "super-snappy, roly-poly" peas, are a veritable Easter basket of pastel shades.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)