Eat Up, Gemma

by Sarah Hayes, Jan Ormerod (Illustrator)

Baby Gemma refuses to eat, throwing her breakfast on the floor and squashing her grapes, until her brother gets an inspired idea.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

28 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eat Up, Gemma is An old school classic.

[Shanaz Begum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eat up, Gemma, is a lovely story in which the whole family encourages Gemma to eat. The author uses simple language to describe the situations. I thought it was a brilliant idea that Gemma elder brother was narrating the story.
A lot of young children can relate to this book. For me particularly I remember not wanting to eat breakfast and did my best to get out of eating dinner but miserably failing! I think a lot parents can relate to this book too!
This is a wonderful book for young children in nursery and reception.

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a staple of my childhood. I found it at the library as a kid and loved it so much. The phrase, “Eat up, Gemma!” became a thing in our house because I was a picky eater. I like how the brother solves the problem in this one. I also really like the pictures. Sometimes food presentation really is everything—for kids and adults! Very cute story that still holds up.

Mia’s Year of Books: Day 306

[Abby Peskin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute story about a baby who doesn’t want to eat what’s presented to her, written from the perspective of her younger sibling. They have difficulty getting Gemma to eat all kinds of different foods, but the younger sibling in the story comes up with a creative way to get her to try new things.

[IUS F19 Hannah Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this when buying children’s books at my local goodwill and I’m so glad I did. The illustrations are very beautiful in my opinion. The story is adorable and funny. I like the story in this book.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet

[Peyton Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story for displaying how a baby develops socially

[James Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my favorite book in first-grade. It was believable, easy to read, and hilarious! I would recommend this for any child.

[Amy Whiffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is aimed at children around Key Stage One and Early Years. I enjoyed reading the book, especially the narration for Gemma’s brother as this demonstrated the frustration him and his family felt when Gemma would not eat. I really liked the fact that the thing that got Gemma eating was fruit on a hat-using fruit as the catalyst is reassuring and will impact children.

Gemma is a baby who refuses to eat. Anything that is put in front of her gets thrown, smashed or given to somebody else! The family is really frustrated with Gemma’s behaviour and her refusal to eat. This changes when the family attend church and the woman stood in front of Gemma has fruit on her hat. Gemma tries to pull off the fruit but the hat falls off. As a result of this trip Gemma’s brother has an idea to turn a bowl upside and put the fruit on top of this so it looked like the hat-and it worked!

The book shows a valuable lesson of not wasting food and if you do, and refuse to eat your food how it impacts other people. The innovative idea of Gemma’s brother was received well by the children I read the book to with them thinking it was genius! The book is not really gripping as the story just follows Gemma not eating and then she does but the illustrations are captivating.

In the classroom this book can promote healthy eating and the importance of nutrition. It also shows the importance and value of food. A lot of children will probably relate to Gemma-with them refusing to eat the meals given to them- and hopefully after reading the book it will make them think twice. I used this book in the classroom to develop adjectives-where they described fruit and Gemma. I feel this book would be great for guided reading where the book does form many discussion points.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Eat up, Gemma” is a story about a baby girl named Gemma that has a hard time eating her food. She constantly throws it on the floor even when her family tries to give her a different kind of food each time. Later on in the story, Gemma sees a lady’s hat decorated with fruit and thinks that it’s real food so she tries to eat it! That gives her big brother a great idea which finally gets Gemma to eat. This story has a repeated phrase throughout which gives it a nice rhythm when being read. It also has lots of common words and sight words which is ideal for younger students.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gemma far prefers mashing, throwing, and sharing her food to eat it. The entire family keeps encouraging Gemma to eat up, but the dogs and birds just get more and more of her food. Then one day in church, Gemma is inspired to eat the fruit off of the hat of the lady in front of her. Her brother has an idea - will a plate of fruit dressed up like a hat finally get Gemma to eat?

Students with toddler siblings will certainly connect with this story.

[Michael Karre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eat Up Gemma is a funny book. I recemend this for all ages.It is with this babby who dose not eat all she dose is through he food.And everyone try's to get Gemma to eat.And they get her to eat finally.

[Abbi]

Gemma's family tells her that she must eat, but she doesn't like being pushed around. So she does what she wants, and eat when she wants. Her parents can't influence her abilities, so they have to find a way to make little Gemma eat up!

[Vaibhu Satish · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok

[Sonia Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rawfruitarian yay
Long live J Africa

[Cara Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

With illustrations in the style of Ezra Jack Keats and a charming story about a stubborn baby, this book is great for 2 - 3 year olds.

[Jessica Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming story about a fussy eater and her older brother's excellent idea