Why Should I Share?(Paperback) - 2005 Edition

Why Should I?

by Claire Llewellyn

Boys and girls discover the importance of eating sensibly and keeping to a balanced diet. They learn that good eating habits are important for health and fitness. Titles in the enlightening and entertaining Why Should I? series of picture storybooks answer questions that younger boys and girls are likely to ask about a wide range of topics. Part of every child's development consists of asking questions about themselves, their friends and neighbors, and their surroundings. Why Should I? books help them discover good answers. Kids will be attracted by the amusing color illustrations on every page, and parents and teachers will appreciate the note at the back of each book offering further suggestions on answering children's questions.

Genres: Nutrition, Health, Picture Books, Childrens

Paperback

First published October 25, 2001

About the author

Claire Llewellyn is a prize-winning author of non-fiction for young readers – in 1991, she was shortlisted for the prestigious TES Junior Information Book Award for Take One: Rubbish – and in 1992, she won that award for My First Book of Time. Since then, Claire has written more than 100 children’s books on a wide range of subjects. Ask Dr K Fisher About Animals was shortlisted for the 2008 Royal Society prizes for Science Books Junior Prize.

Reviews

[CanadianReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice little book to introduce nutrition to very early primary children. The text is very simple, but the narrative about a little girl who makes better food choices under the influence of a more aware friend is very appropriate for the age group. I only wish the book had been larger to allow for easier sharing with a class.

[Ashley Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts with how "Rachel and I eat well" but before she met Rachel she wouldn't eat any healthy foods. She ate the same kinds of bad foods and everyone eats food like that sometimes because it smells good, taste good, sweet, and easy to find. Everyone in her life tried to push healthy foods on her but she wasn't interested until she met Rachel. Rachel told her if she doesn't eat well, she will get pimples, teeth will decay, will catch every cough and cold, will gain weight, won't be fit, and might even get sick. The ending of the book finishes with how wonderful healthy foods are and how it made her feel amazing. This is a good book because it explores the importance of healthy eating and how to balance your diet even at a young age. The author accomplishes an interesting technique where she would ask a question and then it will be answered on the next page. This allows the children to keep thinking about the context. This book also introduces healthy eating to children and reminds them that other children are taking part in healthy eating too. This book would be appropriate for grades pre-kindergarten through second grade. An activity I can accomplish with children is providing a dental health sorting activity. One page will be labeled "Good for Our Teeth" and the second page will be labeled "Bad for Our Teeth." The children will be given pictures which they can sort and place in the appropriate page. Some examples will be bananas, milk, soda, juice, chocolate, broccoli, etc. Another activity children can accomplish is having children draw a picture of their healthy lunchbox and the foods that they should be packing for lunch every day. This activity will come later in the unit where children have a good understanding of bad and good foods.

[Carly Kleve · Rating 4 out of 5]

An elementary aged girl loves eating candy, soda, fatty burgers, and fries. She doesn't see how it's affecting her, even though all of the adults in her life try to help her choose healthier options. When a new girl named Rachel comes, she learns about all of the negative effects that eating badly can have on your body, versus the positive effects that eating well would have.

In the book, the text is a bit all over the place. There is regular text along the top and bottom of the pages, but there are also speech bubbles, though bubbles, and each food on the page is labeled. This can be great for children to see how these words are spelled, but it clutters up the page.

The illustrations are colorful watercolor style illustrations. They contribute to the storyline by showing what happens to the girl as she eats unhealthy foods versus healthy ones. There is not a lot of white space solely because it is taken up by text.

As a whole, this book is a great informative book. It helps introduce healthy eating to children at a young age, and reminds them that other children are doing it, too.

I give it a 4 star rating because even though the words made it a bit difficult to follow along with, the story was great and true to its purpose. The reader could easily connect with the main character.

[Megan Charlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story shows the importance of eating healthy to stay in good shape for your body. The story is about this little girl who chooses to eat a relatively poor diet and does not see the importance of eating healthy. She meets a new friend who introduces her to the negative effects of poor eating and why it is beneficial to eat healthy. I feel the story is a little bit intimidating and may scare young children into eating healthy to avoid problems rather than for the benefits. This book does relate back to my theme of healthy eating as it encourages children to eat better and still shows that they are allowed to have their favorite sweet treats as well. I do not like this book as much as the other ones I have read, mainly because it may encourage children to eat well for the wrong reasons.
I feel this story can be related to Heyman and Shortsleeve’s work on Nonsense. The words of the story do not show a lot of nonsense, but the pictures do. I think pictures and words show equal amounts of importance in a story, especially in children’s books aimed at younger elementary students. The illustrations in this book show food being thrown, and other atypical images that are not common for children to experience.

[Laurel Krause · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why Should I Eat Well is a book about a young girl named Monica and her friend Rachel. Rachel introduced Monica to other foods besides junk food. Her lunch lady, her mom, her grandma, and her dad tried to have Monica eat all types of food but she refused. But, one day she met Rachel and who always eats well. She told her all the bad things about eating bad foods. She will have bad teeth, pimples, become sick all the time and, gain weight. Now Monica eats all different kinds a foods so can have energy, clear skin, and healthy hair. Just because she eats right though doesn't mean she can't have a treat once and a while.

I would give this book a 4/5 stars. It is a really good way to introduce your kids to healthy eating and the bad things about not eating good. The illustrations in this book were very well done and provided detail to the story. Kids need to learn about avoiding the bad foods so that they don't become sick or unhealthy in the future.

[Safaa Zaki]

hy Should I Eat Well is a book about a young girl named Monica and her friend Rachel. Rachel introduced Monica to other foods besides junk food. Her lunch lady, her mom, her grandma, and her dad tried to have Monica eat all types of food but she refused. But, one day she met Rachel and who always eats well. She told her all the bad things about eating bad foods. She will have bad teeth, pimples, become sick all the time and, gain weight. Now Monica eats all different kinds a foods so can have energy, clear skin, and healthy hair. Just because she eats right though doesn't mean she can't have a treat once and a while.

I would give this book a 4/5 stars. It is a really good way to introduce your kids to healthy eating and the bad things about not eating good. The illustrations in this book were very well done and provided detail to the story. Kids need to learn about avoiding the bad foods so that they don't become sick or unhealthy in the future.

[Jami Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why Should I Eat Well is a cute book influencing children to understand healthy eating. As children tend to be on the unhealthy/candy side, it is important to teach them a balanced way of eating. Why should I eat well is a fun spin on eating your vegetables because mom said so. This book exposes kids to what happens if you eat unhealthy for a long time and what healthy eating can do for someone.
This book is a fun way teachers could use as a follow-up activity to showing students the food pyramid. This book could help children really understand the lesson on the food pyramid and how to use it.

[Morgan Alston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptional and engaging book on how to encourage healthy eating in young ones! The use of a friend to encourage the main character to eat healthier was a fun way to show how healthy eating can lead to being fit and active. The book shows positive habits through leading by example, as other children their age are eating healthy and participating in self-care. Since children are so obsessed with all things candy and sugar filled at this age, the book teaches them that too much can result in bad, sometimes gross effects.

[Ashley Wannenburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the book "Why Should I Eat Well" written by Claire Llewellyn was an amazing book, I enjoyed everything about this book and think that this book would be a great book for children. This book is really good for discussing why it is important to eat healthy foods. The book was a really easy read and would be good for children to use as an independent read. I also thought that the illustrations were done incredibly well and thought the book is an important book to introduce in a health class or when talking about healthy vs. non-healthy foods.

[Tami Speakman · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book with my daughter who is 6 1/2 she told me that she has learned that she needs to eat more fruit and vegetables so she can be healthy. The book explains what can happen in the long run to the child if they choose to eat unhealthy foods. When children want to make the change on their own the change with be life long. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a child they may not be choosing the right foods.

[Angel Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great resource to use as an introductory tool to teaching good nutrition to young children. It teaches children about what too much "bad" food could do and how "good" food is a better option. One part of the book that I found especially useful was the book points out that eating healthy meals with the occasional treat is perfectly fine . This book will serve as a helpful guide for teachers or parents who want to begin addressing the topic of healthy eating with children.

[Lannett Boateng · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is a great start to explain why children should eat the right foods that will give them proper nutrition. It explains why you should not eat the same foods all the time and that she will get pimples if she drinks too many sugary drinks. In the end, she made better food choices and still remember that she can occasionally have a treat. It is an excellent book that I will most likely read to my little sister.

[Robby Owen]

This is a great book to show younger students how to eat well and why you should. The illustrations keeps the reader engaged and also associates names to pictures like having the word burger next to an actual burger. It also has very simple words for the students/listeners to learn more words or understand the book better.

[Audrey Randall · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a gateway to eating disorders. I cannot believe any teacher or parent would read this to a child. First, it classifies certain foods as "fatty" and puts them into good or bad categories. Second, it pits elementary age girls in a school cafeteria against each other. Finally, I think the images perpetuate a negative portrayal of race, gender, and socioeconomic class. Burn this book.

[Sydney Holloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does a great job of distinguishing what is good for you and what is not! I think like kids, we are more attracted to the sugary thing and not the healthier options! I think the illustrations do a great job of giving you an image of what sugary things can cause. this is a great book for kids, easy to digest.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claire Llewellyn is an amazing writer,because she really gets into kids head about changing their lifestyle. About dietting and that eating healthy is very important,so when you grow up they won't be out of shape or sick. Also, that it is ok to eat sweets or fast food once in a while,but make sure that you don't to much of it.This a great book I'll give it a 10 our of 10.

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book used age appropriate vocabulary and images to teach children the importance of eating healthy. It gave various examples of the negative impacts eating bad can cause as well as, the positive effects from eating healthy. It was very easy to follow and understand why we should be eating healthy.

[Samantha Kiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an informational picture book for children about eating healthy. I really like the concept behind the book, but it is very difficult to read. A unique feature that makes it difficult is it has many dialogue bubbles that are hard to follow. It does not flow real well.

[Alli Trenkamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book for teaching young ones why eating well is important. The text is very simple. This book is about a little girl who makes better food choices when being more aware of why she should eat well. This book is great for ages 3-8

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grades: Pre-k,1-2,3-5
Genre: Informational
This is a good read for little readers because it shows why you should eat healthy. The book shows the benefits of eating healthy and if you eat healthy how it will affect you in the future. This was a fast read. I enjoyed it. Rate 5-5

[Magdalena Scotto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to introduce students about the importance of being healthy. From eating healthy foods to exercise, this book is a great introduction to a lesson about being healthy. I think this would be great to use for health class.

[Jenna Kistner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe that this book was very informative in terms of how it simplified ways to eat nutritious food. Being informed through this book that diet is important, it lets younger children know that they should actively try to take care of their body.

[Giselle Flores-Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very easy for children to understand, it talks about how consuming non-healthy food can be bad for your body and it also explains the benefits, healthy food brings to your body. it also explains that it's okay to consume non-healthy food once in a while.

[Joselin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does a good job in showing how many children tend to want to eat. It also shows how and why it is beneficial it is to eat better more nutritious foods. Not just sugary, fatty, and not nutritious foods.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for teaching young ones why eating well is important.

[Peyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to teach young students about having good eating habits.

[Tabitha Hardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does a great job of informing children of the bad effects of junk food and the good effects of healthy food. I would most certainly use this in any classroom or home learning setting.

[Lola Fashina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book explains the importance and benefits of eating healthy foods and exercising.

[Katlyn Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This group is great for grades 1-4 to help inform them of their eating habits and how they can make better eating choices.

[Brittanni Bostick]

i like how it promotes good eating habits