A Few Bites

by Cybèle Young

Shortlisted for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Picture Book Award and selected as an OLA Best Bet for 2012 It's time for Ferdie to eat lunch, but he'd much rather find the special part for his fighter ship. When big sister Viola promises to help him, he comes to the table. But he finds broccoli on his plate, and carrots! Ever resourceful and imaginative, Viola convinces Ferdie that dinosaurs ate broccoli to escape their fiercest predators, and that carrots are just like the Orange Power Sticks that aliens eat for super vision. Doesn't Ferdie want to be just like them? Viola continues to persuade Ferdie to eat up, but when her energy finally flags, it's Ferdie's turn to create a wonderful surprise. Just as in A Few Blocks , an ordinary event seen through a child's eyes becomes an amazing adventure. This time the children switch back and forth between the lunch table and the elaborate fantasy worlds they imagine (shown in Cybele Young's intricate paper sculptures, which she has created from paintings of the children's surroundings). At the end of the story, the world of the imagination and the everyday magically come together, and Viola and Ferdie each enjoy a few bites.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Food, Family, Fiction

42 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2012

About the author

Cybèle Young is an award-winning paper sculpture artist as well as an author and illustrator of children's books.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous. Not the ending I expected, but one that's much more authentic and satisfying. Remember, Viola is a big sister, not a parent! (btw, I'm sure they're not alone... it's more likely something like Mom's at the office and Dad's in his studio or something)

I will continue to look for more by the author/artist.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those imaginative siblings Viola and Ferdie return in this follow-up to Canadian author/illustrator Cybèle Young's A Few Blocks . In that previous book they confronted the everyday experience of walking a few block to school, managing to turn it into an entertaining game of make-believe. Here Viola confronts a situation in which Ferdie does not want to eat the lunch she has prepared, using stories of dinosaurs to get him to eat the broccoli, aliens to convince him to eat his carrots, and a story of deep sea adventure to get him to (partially) eat his ravioli. Nothing will convince him to finish however, and all seems at odds, until Ferdie himself initiates a game of make-believe, involving Viola...

Much like its predecessor, A Few Bites features a story in which the mundane events of life are recast in an entertaining, story-centered way, one which showcases the power of the imagination in the child's life, and how it can be used to transform unappealing tasks and overcome challenges. The ending, in which not all challenges are overcome completely, is realistic and relatable, and I liked the way Viola was at first exasperated, and then relented in the face of Ferdie's own attempt at storytelling. The artwork here is in the same illustrative style as the first book, created using painted scenes done in ink and watercolor, that were then cut out and assembled as paper sculpture. Here again, the "real world" scenes were done simply, drawn with a limited color palette and featuring no sculptural elements, while the sequences featuring imaginative play are more colorful, and done with three dimensional sculpture. This creates a visual contrast that parallels the contrast in the text, and adds power to both. Recommended to picture book readers looking for stories about siblings and/or imaginative play, as well as to those who read the first book about this pair.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viola makes lunch for her younger brother, Ferdie. Ferdie would rather be playing and his sister convinces him to come eat by promising to help him after. He dislikes what is for lunch and his sister is able to convince him to try each thing by creatively telling him how dinosaurs like broccoli and aliens love carrots, but then struggles through her imaginative tale of the flashlight light fish to persuade him to eat the remaining ravioli. As he does not finish his food, Viola reminds him there will be no dessert, but Ferdie uses his own imagination to create dessert. Viola joins him and then helps him with his fighter ship leaving the ravioli forgotten.

Young creates a delightful narrative showing how something ordinary like carrots and broccoli can be woven into a clever and elaborative imaginative fantasy. It is illustrated using colourful paper cut outs to show the fantasy world and simple black and white drawings with a lot of white space showing the realistic world. As the imaginative fantasy adventure unfolds the colourful illustrations expand to fill the page and become smaller each time they return to the table to repeat again. The sequential visual narrative has many things to notice and observe both about how the fantasy world is . The ending was a bit unexpected as the ravioli was left uneaten by Ferdie diverging from the initial predictable pattern of fantasy adventure encouraging him to try different foods.

This story is relatable for many children who have had to be convinced to try or eat foods they dislike (or believe to dislike) as well as the adult caregivers who have had to try to convince their children to eat. It is a story that shows us how imagination can engage us. Students could be invited to create elaborate fantasies to convince others to try a particular food.

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Few Blocks is better.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viola made supper then had to convince her brother to eat, so she made up stories about dinosaurs and aliens. Cute story with a great ending. Nicely illustrated.

[skcocnaH · Rating 2 out of 5]

If only getting a kid to eat was as easy as spouting facts.

[Annie MacPherson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would have been much more successful as an animated short. Has the feeling of student work. Beautiful and very detailed, but not fully realized.

[Ian McHugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful at teatime. A lovely book of sibling cooperation and care. Lots of imagination here.

[Erin Powers · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book didn't stand out to me as a great choice for a read-aloud, I do think that it had a great message and storyline. This book shows the relationship between an older sister and her younger brother, which I think would be useful in connecting with some children.

[Drew Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ferdie can't be bothered to eat his lunch, but big sister Viola might be able to get the imaginative boy to tuck in.

It seems like "eat your food" books are much less common than bedtime or potty books, but this is a great one. It's not just about eating lunch, but about imagination and how to engage with the clever and sometimes manic minds of toddlers. True, Charlie & Lola already tackled the issue, quite famously in our house, but this one does a very creative job of it.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Viola must get creative to get her brother Ferdie to eat his lunch of broccoli, carrots and ravioli.

[Emmaline MacBeath · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Few Bites is about a girl who is babysitting her younger brother who is reluctant to eat. She asks him to at least eat a few bites. When he refuses, she makes up stories about the foods that encourage him to eat. In the end, he is the one using his imagination with his toys and his sister joins in.

Cybele Young's picture book illustration is different from anything you might see in other books. She uses Japanese paper sculptures. This story begins with black and white drawings, but as the children's imaginations grow the illustrations become colored paper sculptures. Instead of simply coloring the sculptures, she uses drawings within drawings. The creativity of Young's style is awe inspiring. With the youngest children, you can look together to find the "hidden" pictures within the illustrations. The story itself it best read with ages 4-5 and up.

I love how the siblings share their imaginations with each other in this book.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age: Preschool+
Family: Younger brother, older sister
Food: Trying to make a kid eat what he doesn't want to eat

I felt like this was a lot stronger than "A Few Blocks" mainly because the imagination and the real world blended more cohesively, with each one distinct and recognizeable. You can see the imagination laying on top of reality. For example, an outline of a ferocious dinosaur is set atop a cat walking down the hallway; the outlines of spaceships and aliens are set atop kitchen countertops, curtains, and a table. As the imagination slips away, we can see the unreal world slowly disappear, e.g. as Ferdie's dinosaur tail slowly fades away.

A perfect celebration of imagination, creativity, and eating "unlikeable" food.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

What's a big sister to do when her little brother won't eat his lunch? In this case, she makes up wildly imaginative stories about how broccoli was food for dinosaurs and carrots were "Orange Power Sticks" (unpaged) consumed by Zyblots for super vision. Big sister Viola has enough imagination to get Ferdie to eat two food items, but she runs out of steam during the third story. I loved the beginning and the stories she tells, but the story took a strange turn when he refuses to eat his ravioli and then creates his own dessert. Offsetting the simple sketches of the brother and sister, the ink and watercolor illustrations contain pastel colors to represent the stories Viola is telling.

[Bailey Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Few Bites was a really exciting book that had a general message about the importance of imagination. All of the illustrations were black and white until the sister had to make up a story as to why the brother should eat his vegetables. As she was telling the story the images were very colorful, however super clustered which made it difficult for me to follow, but I really liked how the author did that. By the end of the book the brother builds an imaginary cake because he understands what his sister was trying to do for him. It is such a cute story line and would be great in a younger classroom because of all of the colors and interesting ups and downs.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wildly creative book in which a big sister convinces her little brother to eat the various foods on his plate by making up enticing stories.

Illustrations start out as black and white drawings and as the stories the sister makes up grow in detail the artwork becomes colorful and cut out assemblages are introduced to bring the stories to life.

LOVE the creativity and storytelling in this book! Must read/see!

[IrenesBookReviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the text of the story but did not especially enjoy the pictures. It starts out as black and white pictures and then as the children begin to imagine that part of the page changes colors to all green tones or even all pink tones. I gave this book 4/5 stars. It was imaginative to have their thoughts pictured above them in the pictures however the drawings were confusing. It is not one of my favorite books due to the illustrations.

[Kendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really liked it until she couldn't come up with the rest of the story and the book took a different turn. It still ended sweetly, but not sweetly enough to change my mind I guess. Still, would be fin to share with those kids who like to help make up reasons why their siblings or cousins should eat what's on their plate. Every family has them!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story of creativity, imagination, and sibling love. Viola tells lively imaginative stories to entice young Ferdie to eat his lunch. But finally she runs out of ideas and just pleads with him to finish the last few bites. She listens to music while Ferdie gets creative and the two siblings finish up their lunch as a special surprise dessert.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the first few pages, I was definitely unimpressed. However, once I realized where the book was going, I enjoyed it a lot more. This is a great book to read with any child who struggles to eat their vegetables or is just a picky eater in general. The color illustrations pop on the otherwise black & white text.

[Teresa Scherping Moulton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A big sister convinces her little brother to eat his lunch by telling him stories involving his broccoli, carrots, and ravioli and also dinosaurs, aliens, and undersea creatures. The idea is charming, but I doubt any kids would actually fall for it!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me a bit of Lauren Child's "I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato". Small, layered and detailed illustrations would make this best for one-on-one sharing. I found the ending was a bit odd and unfinished.

[Brindi Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

too long for PSST, but i think it would work well for The Butler....especially when focusing on black and white or colors. I really like the splashes of colors throughout this book, and I think families will enjoy the story, too.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful picture where a children's imagination takes the readers to colorful worlds to explore. Introduce a young child to imagination and they will include you in theirs. Excellent illustration!

[Jj · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nice idea, but I believe this was done far better by Lauren Child in "I Will Never Not Ever Eat A Tomato". Plus, the ending was terrible. Did she just run out of steam? Too bad, because I really did *want* to like it.

[Rachel]

This book is creative but the ending doesn't really make a lot of sense. I like the idea of the color illustrations taking over the black and white real world but they were more convoluted than engaging

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the lovely artwork and creative stories as an older sister tries to get her younger brother to eat his dinner. It reminds me a bit of "I Will Never, Not Ever Eat A Tomato" by Lauren Child.

[Linda Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A visual delight!

[Kayce · Rating 2 out of 5]

huh...?