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PAR-TAY!: Dance of the Veggies
What happens when the family closes the front door and leaves the house for an outing? “The head of cabbage, sitting in the fridge, hears the front door close, hears the click of the key … He looks out … sees his people leave … He stands in the middle of the floor … throws his head back and yells, “PAR-TAY!” Children and adults will experience this house party through the buoyant, rhythmic words of Eloise Greenfield and the playful, exuberant illustrations of Don Tate. Read and join the PAR-TAY !
32 pages, Hardcover
Published April 1, 2018
24 people want to read
About the author
Eloise Greenfield
75 books55 followersGreenfield was born Eloise Little in Parmele, North Carolina, and grew up in Washington, D.C., during the Great Depression in the Langston Terrace housing project, which provided a warm childhood experience for her.[1] She was the second oldest of five children of Weston W. Little and his wife Lessie Blanche (née Jones) Little (1906–1986). A shy and studious child, she loved music and took piano lessons.[2][3] Greenfield experienced racism first-hand in the segregated southern U.S., especially when she visited her grandparents in North Carolina and Virginia.[4] She graduated from Cardozo Senior High School in 1946 and attended Miner Teachers College until 1949. In her third year, however, she found that she was too shy to be a teacher and dropped out.[5]
Greenfield began work in the civil service at the U.S. Patent Office. In 1950, she married World War II veteran Robert J. Greenfield, a long-time friend. She began writing poetry and songs in the 1950s while working at the Patent Office, finally succeeding in getting her first poem published in the Hartford Times in 1962 after many years of writing and submitting poetry and stories.[6] After joining the District of Columbia Black Writers Workshop in 1971, she began to write books for children. She has published more than 40 children's books, including picture books, novels, poetry and biographies. She says that she seeks to "choose and order words that children will celebrate".[5][7]
Dismayed by the depiction of blacks and black communities in popular media, Greenfield has focused her work on realistic but positive portrayals of African-American communities, families and friendships.[1] These relationships are emphasized in Sister (1974) a young girl copes with the death of a parent with the help of other family members, Me and Nessie (1975) about best friends, My Daddy and I (1991) and Big Friend, Little Friend (1991) about mentoring.[5] Her first book, Bubbles (1972), "sets the tone for much of Greenfield's later work: Realistic portrayals of loving African American parents working hard to provide for their families, and the children who face life's challenges with a positive outlook."[1] In She Come Bringing Me that Little Baby Girl (1974), a boy deals with feelings of envy and learns to share his parents' love when his baby sister arrives. The poignant Alesia (1981) concerns the bravery of a girl handicapped by a childhood accident. Night on Neighborhood Street (1991) is a collection of poems depicting everyday life in an urban community. One of her best-known books, Honey I Love, first published in 1978, is a collection of poems for people of all ages concerning the daily lives and loving relationships of children and families. Her semi-autobiographical book Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir (1979) describes her happy childhood in a neighborhood with strong positive relationships.[5] In the introduction to that book, she explains her interest in biography:
People are a part of their time. They are affected, during the time that they live by the things that happen in their world. Big things and small things. A war, an invention such as radio or television, a birthday party, a kiss. All of these help to shape the present and the future. If we could know more about our ancestors, about the experiences they had when they were children, and after they had grown up, too, we would know much more about what has shaped us and our world.[8]
In 1971, Greenfield began work for the District of Columbia Black Writers' Workshop, as co-director of adult fiction and then, in 1973, as director of children's literature. That group's goal was to encourage the writing and publishing of African-American literature. She was writer-in-residence at the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 1985-86 and taught creative writing in schools under grants from the Commission. She has also lectured and given free workshops on writing of African-American children's
Greenfield began work in the civil service at the U.S. Patent Office. In 1950, she married World War II veteran Robert J. Greenfield, a long-time friend. She began writing poetry and songs in the 1950s while working at the Patent Office, finally succeeding in getting her first poem published in the Hartford Times in 1962 after many years of writing and submitting poetry and stories.[6] After joining the District of Columbia Black Writers Workshop in 1971, she began to write books for children. She has published more than 40 children's books, including picture books, novels, poetry and biographies. She says that she seeks to "choose and order words that children will celebrate".[5][7]
Dismayed by the depiction of blacks and black communities in popular media, Greenfield has focused her work on realistic but positive portrayals of African-American communities, families and friendships.[1] These relationships are emphasized in Sister (1974) a young girl copes with the death of a parent with the help of other family members, Me and Nessie (1975) about best friends, My Daddy and I (1991) and Big Friend, Little Friend (1991) about mentoring.[5] Her first book, Bubbles (1972), "sets the tone for much of Greenfield's later work: Realistic portrayals of loving African American parents working hard to provide for their families, and the children who face life's challenges with a positive outlook."[1] In She Come Bringing Me that Little Baby Girl (1974), a boy deals with feelings of envy and learns to share his parents' love when his baby sister arrives. The poignant Alesia (1981) concerns the bravery of a girl handicapped by a childhood accident. Night on Neighborhood Street (1991) is a collection of poems depicting everyday life in an urban community. One of her best-known books, Honey I Love, first published in 1978, is a collection of poems for people of all ages concerning the daily lives and loving relationships of children and families. Her semi-autobiographical book Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir (1979) describes her happy childhood in a neighborhood with strong positive relationships.[5] In the introduction to that book, she explains her interest in biography:
People are a part of their time. They are affected, during the time that they live by the things that happen in their world. Big things and small things. A war, an invention such as radio or television, a birthday party, a kiss. All of these help to shape the present and the future. If we could know more about our ancestors, about the experiences they had when they were children, and after they had grown up, too, we would know much more about what has shaped us and our world.[8]
In 1971, Greenfield began work for the District of Columbia Black Writers' Workshop, as co-director of adult fiction and then, in 1973, as director of children's literature. That group's goal was to encourage the writing and publishing of African-American literature. She was writer-in-residence at the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 1985-86 and taught creative writing in schools under grants from the Commission. She has also lectured and given free workshops on writing of African-American children's
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
July 6, 2018
All the vegetables and fruits in the refrigerator throw a "PAR-TAY!" when the family leaves the house. In this story children learn the difference between a vegetable (without seeds) and a fruit (with seeds). The pictures are bright and colorful. The book provides explanations for the difference between fruits and vegetables in the back of the book, along with reference listing.
November 20, 2018
The text is looong and not engaging enough to be so long; however, I find the illustrations amazing and there is interesting information on the end on how to distinguish a fruit v. veggie -- the eternal debate!
June 5, 2018
Cute children’s book about veggies and fruits (who know how to throw a par-tay!!) 😊
April 25, 2018
The vegetables having a party after the people leave is a fun premise but the story was too long.
April 3, 2023
Help your child to learn that many of us kids -- and adults -- love to eat our vegetables.
I love this whimsical, lively veggie party. The narration ripples with rhythm and contagious fun. Playful descriptions of the different veggies are fabulous. My favorite might be the dance of the artichoke. Perfect, since that's my favorite vegetable!
Standing up to the bold words of this dancing book are, by Eloise Greenfield...
Meet the lively-lively pictures by Don Tate. Wonderful!
To my mind, this brilliant book just might innoculate children against popular nonsense that (supposedly) kids don't like vegetables. Of course they can. Helping kids to discover the fun of these foods.... that's one of the most delightful jobs a parent can have, imo.
I love this whimsical, lively veggie party. The narration ripples with rhythm and contagious fun. Playful descriptions of the different veggies are fabulous. My favorite might be the dance of the artichoke. Perfect, since that's my favorite vegetable!
Standing up to the bold words of this dancing book are, by Eloise Greenfield...
Meet the lively-lively pictures by Don Tate. Wonderful!
To my mind, this brilliant book just might innoculate children against popular nonsense that (supposedly) kids don't like vegetables. Of course they can. Helping kids to discover the fun of these foods.... that's one of the most delightful jobs a parent can have, imo.
December 20, 2021
I feel like I need to watch a video of the author read this book, because while parts of it rhymed, not all of it did, and I had a hard time finding the cadence as I read it aloud to my son. That was somewhat disappointing to me since it was a book built on the premise of dancing; I assumed that finding the rhythm would have been easier than it was. I appreciated the way April Pulley Sayre's "Rah, Rah, Radishes" flowed when read aloud much more than this one.
April 14, 2024
This book is highly imaginative and fun. I can see integrating colors, instruments, types of dance moves, rhyme, vegetables (both known and unknown). This story made me think to myself, "the family sure do eat healthy by incorporating a lot of different vegetables in their frig!" Then the sunglasses on all the veggies made me think of Pete the Cat and the Cool Sunglasses--why does being a cool cat associate with wearing sunglasses? Mmmhhh something to think about!
September 10, 2018
This book just didn’t do it for it. I feel like it was trying too hard. It could be a useful teaching book when talking about vegetables but I don’t see students choosing this book for independent reading.
April 8, 2019
Yeah....I am not sure what review or suggestion had me purchase this book. The poetry is okay, the pictures are okay, and the story is hmmm. My biggest frustration is the lack of audience. I am not sure who will like or be inspired by this book.
September 11, 2019
This book was too long, but it would be easy enough to skip sections to maintain the attention of a storytime audience. A fun way to talk about vegetables, and it would be great to get the kids dancing.
Themes: Fruits & Veggies, Music
Themes: Fruits & Veggies, Music
March 4, 2022
This is probably more of a 2.5-- the illustrations are great & it's a fun concept of veggies having a dance party with magical instruments, but the text just did not flow, making it feel clunky to read.
February 11, 2023
This is an incoherent book. The idea of the book is ok, but the writing doesn't make any sense. About half of the pages rhyme. The other do not and have no rhythm at all. Multiple pages have a mixture of sentences and fragments. It's an absolute mess.
May 11, 2018
Fun book.
June 13, 2018
Super duper meh. This felt really thrown together - some little bits that rhymed put together with other random free verse about vegetables dancing. There are way better vegetable books out there.
July 11, 2018
Young kids would probably like this as a read aloud.
October 16, 2018
When the house is asleep the vegtables and fruits throw a party in the kitchen complete with dance moves. Preschool and up
July 5, 2019
Just didn't like this one. It was weird and kind of pointless.
August 8, 2019
If you ever thought your vegetables might have a dance party when you leave your house, then this book's for you.
March 10, 2021
This might inspire children to dance or to eat vegetables! Greenfield switches to rhyme when the party begins, which conveys the change in tone. Fun story with fun illustrations.
October 13, 2021
Ultimately the words do not flow well in this book - it is choppy and boring.
August 28, 2021
Cute and informational title about teaching young people about different vegetable varieties. However, the poetry/rhyme scheme is a tad awkward to read out loud and fell a little flat when trying to captivate the audience at storytime.
October 7, 2025
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Okay book. I liked the premise of teaching kids about various fruits and vegetables using a fun format, but the execution was a bit off for me.
I'm always a little squeamish about children's books with food for characters. As soon as you put a cute face on something, it feels weird to think about eating it. Plus, the produce dances so much they start sweating and sweaty veggies was a weird image for me.
The book felt overly wordy. It was cute to have the produce come out of the fridge to throw a party while the humans were away, but the writing was so dense. There are a lot of words on each page, many of which felt unnecessary. Also, there is no consistent rhyme scheme in the book, making the flow a bit awkward.
I did like the illustrations. They were simple and fun with a crayon-like quality about them.
At the end of the book, there is information on what constitutes a vegetable and a fruit. An interesting way to learn about fruits and vegetables as well as different styles of dance, but felt a bit wordy and the changing rhyme scheme made it difficult for a read-aloud.
Okay book. I liked the premise of teaching kids about various fruits and vegetables using a fun format, but the execution was a bit off for me.
I'm always a little squeamish about children's books with food for characters. As soon as you put a cute face on something, it feels weird to think about eating it. Plus, the produce dances so much they start sweating and sweaty veggies was a weird image for me.
The book felt overly wordy. It was cute to have the produce come out of the fridge to throw a party while the humans were away, but the writing was so dense. There are a lot of words on each page, many of which felt unnecessary. Also, there is no consistent rhyme scheme in the book, making the flow a bit awkward.
I did like the illustrations. They were simple and fun with a crayon-like quality about them.
At the end of the book, there is information on what constitutes a vegetable and a fruit. An interesting way to learn about fruits and vegetables as well as different styles of dance, but felt a bit wordy and the changing rhyme scheme made it difficult for a read-aloud.
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June 19, 2018What I found to be most fascinating about this book was the last page, where it was described what is an actual fruit and what is an actual vegetable. I had no idea that TECHNICALLY, corn, squash, zucchini, string beans, and eggplant were fruits and not vegetables!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews