Avocado Asks: What Am I?

by Momoko Abe

Avocado is feeling just fine in the fruit and veg aisle at the supermarket - until a young customer asks a difficult question: "Is an avocado a fruit or a vegetable?" Avocado doesn't know the answer either - and the question won't seem to go away!A brilliantly funny book about identity and being confident in your own skin - featuring the world's most popular superfood!

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Humor, Childrens, Storytime, Fiction, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Momoko Abe was born in Japan and has been drawing ever since she can remember. She moved to the UK to study filmmaking, and still works in the TV and film industry alongside her illustration work. Momoko is an AOI World Illustration Award Shortlist artist. She lives in London. She is the author and illustrator of Avocado Asks: What Am I? and the illustrator of The Pet Potato.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll tell you what you are pal: YOUR GUACAMOLE! YOUR SLICES ON MY ROAST TURKEY SANDWICH! YOUR THE CENTER OF MY CALIFORNIA ROLLS! YOUR MASHED UP ON MY BREAKFAST TOAST! Sorry...got a little carried away...but I LOVE AVOCADOS! This is a fun book (with the seed left in the identity searching avocado looks a lot like Jimmy Durante). Vegetable or fruit - who cares!

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was prepared for the existential crisis; I was NOT prepared for the puns, and they were the best part! Okay, not the best...but darn good!

Now I know what you're thinking. "I don't need a book about an avocado searching for its identity OR a book of food puns!" To that, I offer rebuttal. "Yes you do!"

First of all, the art is scrumptious, pun intended.

Second, if you liked The Bad Seed series, you'll adore Avocado, who feels out of place in every department of the grocery store. After help from Tomato, a fellow produce-aisle interloper, Avocado realizes there is more to life than classification. (Even though, yes, avocados are a fruit.)

So my third point would be this: Who doesn't need a reminder that being YOU is enough? Everyone needs that.

[Shaye Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

What ARE avocados, exactly? Fruit? Vegetables? Avocado travels the width of the grocery store, looking for a place to belong. It turns out that Avocado isn’t alone in struggling to find his place — there are other foods who aren’t so easy to place. 🤣 While the story is cute, there’s plenty to learn in this book about fruits and vegetables.

Two of my sons have a thing for avocados. In fact, for Christmas their Mimi bought them both a squishable avocado to sleep with (which they both LOVE). So as soon as I hear of this book, I just knew I had to check this one out.

For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful, humorous story about an avocado who doesn’t know where he belongs- is he a fruit or a vegetable? And does it matter? Fortunately, a tomato sets him straight. Highly recommend for any and all elementary school libraries.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leave it to a tomato to have the best self-esteem of any fruit OR vegetable. "Who cares what we are when we're simply amazing?" Wise words.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Family read-aloud party for the holiday weekend: Juneteenth, Father's Day, a birthday, and the solstice. (4 of 5)

I get the philosophical identity thing the author is going for, but I still immediately googled, "Is avocado a fruit?" immediately after finishing the book, because it didn't tell me. It's a fruit and a berry to boot.

Full disclosure, I rarely eat avocados or guacamole, so I was happier when Tomato finally showed up to commiserate and celebrate.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

So brilliant. "Who cares what we are when we're simply AMAZING!"
Kelly and I want that on a shirt.
TWO important truths in one deceptively simple little friendship story - a) there is no such thing as a vegetable (asparagus is a grass! broccoli is a flower!) and b) labels are bullshit.
That goes for people as well as it does for questioning avocados and concerned tomatos.

[Chinook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fantastic! It’s so cute and such a great analogy.

[Adele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler warning - an Avocado is a fruit, but this book doesn't really explicitly say that. However, the fruits' arguments for why Avocado doesn't belong were not nearly as convincing as the vegetables'. I was waiting for tomato to show up basically from the fruit page on and when it finally did I was not disappointed. Cute and funny. I enjoyed Avocado's increasingly out there attempts to find where he belonged - "Am I a cheese?" "Am I a fish?"

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avocado is perfectly content in the supermarket until a child asks whether avocados are fruits or vegetables. Uh oh! Avocado is rejected by both fruits and vegetables and doesn't appear to fit in anywhere. A humorous picture book filled with clever wordplay and an affirming message that being different is more than okay.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple unanswered question takes Avocado on a quest up and down the isles of the supermarket seeking the answer to the question "What am I?" This lighthearted story will make the reader ponder, just what is an avocado, fruit or vegetable, and just when it's about to give up while feeling lost and lonely, a tomato comes along, and gives a cheerful response.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good picture book for discussing identity obliquely. Could be used in a younger story time about food, without emphasizing the sub-text.

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not everything fits into tidy categories and the avocado is certainly one of them. Is it a fruit? Vegetable? Who cares! Avocados are awesome.

[Jenell]

Cute!

[Tegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monarch 2024

[Suhasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avocado has an identity crisis!

"Who cares what we are, when we're simply amazing?"

[Audrey Pollard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very cute book, Avocado goes around the grocery store trying to figure out where he fits in, but then tomato tells him he doesn’t need to be defined as any thing to fit in.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super funny about what is an Avocado? Is it a fruit or a veggie? I loved how tomato comforted it.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An avocado with a serious existential crisis.

[Ellon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really cute! I love the message about not worrying about labels and just being yourself.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter and I loved our way through this random book about an avocado having a crisis as to whether he is a fruit or a vegetable. The illustrations were great and the book is full of puns and funny one-liners although ultimately we never find out which it is.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun romp through the supermarket, learning fun food facts while exploring the notion of identity! Clever illustrations add to the enjoyment.

[Dedra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply adorable!

[Carly Friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taking place in the grocery store, an avocado who was once content, is now faced with a life changing question. Is he a fruit, or is he a vegetable? Avocado feels like his life was turned upside down, questioning his identity overall. The avocado makes his way over to the vegetables where they don’t claim him. He then goes over to the fruit, asking them the dying question… if he is a fruit. The fruit don’t claim him. The avocado felt his insides mush together, feeling like he was turning into guacamole. He can’t seem to find a home anywhere. The herbs, the sausage, the cans, the fish, the cheeses, even the eggs don’t claim him. Avocado is so confused, he’s starting to feel upset, and even kind of lonely. That is until Avocado meets a friend, Tomato. Tomato and avocado bond over being totally versatile across different recipes. They conclude that they are amazing no matter what they are, and they bring so much to the world. The book ends with a good laugh, while different items question what they are, such as a spork, coconut, and more.

The illustrations throughout this book are extremely detailed, even for food. There are different bumps, bruises, marks, expressions and lighting, making the food feel diversified throughout the grocery store. This book has a great lesson attached to an experience most everyone can relate too, exploring through the grocery store. I would recommend this book for PreK-2nd grade, as it would make both a great read aloud for each of these grades, as well as an independent read for as young as kindergarten.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a great message about identity and being true to oneself in this funny picture book. Just like Avocado, most of us are completely comfortable in our skin until someone prompts us to question our place in the world. In Avocado's case, this identity crisis occurs after a little girl in the grocery store asks her mother whether an avocado is a fruit or a vegetable. Unsure about the answer, Avocado goes to various fruits and vegetables for help, but they assure him that he is not one of them, based on the characteristics of each of those food groups. Still unsure, Avocado visits the seafood bin, checks out the cheeses and eggs with whom he shares some similarities, but then decides that he doesn't fit with them either. A feisty tomato comes to his rescue and lists all the uses for tomatoes and for avocadoes, making it clear that a label doesn't really matter when you're as amazing as the two of them. The two friends feel appropriately empowered and are surprised when several other foods arrive on the scene with questions about their own categorization. The text and bright images bring these foods to life. Because the story is told from a first-person point of view, readers can feel how frustrated Avocado is. This picture book might serve as a good starting point for a writing exercise about perspectives from fruits, vegetables and other grocery store items in which they explore their merits.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avocado Asks: What Am I? is a brilliant story about an avocado who is unsure of his identity after he hears a child questioning whether he's a fruit or a vegetable.

This is a great book and we really enjoyed reading it. Seeing Avocado searching for the answer to his identity was very amusing and it was great to get the children thinking about describing words and deciding what they think Avocado is. They were unsure themselves but they loved explaining why he wasn't each of the items he came across.

The end of the story is lovely and it's great to be reminded that it doesn't matter who you are as long as you believe in yourself and be stay true to who you are. I wasn't expecting Avocado to find a friend in another product that was relatable and reassuring for him and I think this gives the story a fun twist to the ending whilst also reminding us that labels aren't everything and we can be ourselves without them.

The illustrations are fantastic and we loved seeing all the details on the food items and how they each had their own characters as well as the appearance of lots of different textures in the pictures which give the book a unique and eye catching look to it.

This is a great story that we all enjoyed, it is lots of fun and has a nice message for readers to learn about always being yourself and not worrying about any labels.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day while minding his own business in the produce section of the grocery store, Avocado overhears a little girl ask, “Is an avocado a fruit or a vegetable?” This sends Avacado into an existential crisis. What is he? The vegetables don’t want him, nor will the fruits claim him on their team. Maybe a pilgrimage through the market will lend the clarity he seeks?

So, what the heck Momoko Abe? Where is the final answer that we all demanded to know? You couldn’t have possibly put an informative bit about avocados in the afterward to prevent the google search you know readers will need to do?? My own exploration brought this “While there are two types of fleshy fruit, known as drupes and berries, avocados fall in the latter category. Berries are known for their fleshy meso-and endocarp layers, as seen in avocados. So contrary to popular belief, an avocado is not a vegetable.”

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avocado experiences an identity crisis after a shopper asks whether avocados are a fruit or a vegetable.

Avocado was perfectly happy in the produce department of the grocery store until he overhears a child ask her mother if an avocado is a fruit or a vegetable. Avocado asks the fruits and the vegetables, but neither group classifies Avocado as one of their own. This sends Avocado into a tailspin, and he travels through the supermarket trying to find where he belongs.

"Who cares what we are when we're simply AMAZING?" said Tomato.

Finally, he meets Tomato whose classification also differs depending upon whether the technical botanical meanings or the common everyday meanings of the words "fruit" and "vegetable" are being used. Tomato soothes Avocado's fears by describing how delicious he is and telling him not to worry about technicalities.

This picture book discusses the topic of identity using a clever metaphor. It also introduces young readers to the idea that things in a certain category may not fit every single criteria within that category and encourages flexible thinking.

Fun Fact: The United States Supreme Court legally declared the tomato to be a vegetable in the 1893 case of Nix v. Hedden. This was partially due to the fact that tomatoes are treated as vegetables in everyday life and partly because vegetables had higher import tariffs than fruits.

[Melanie Dulaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun way to open up a conversation with elementary listeners/readers about how valuable we all are no matter what we look like, enjoy doing, or any other noticeable trait. Actions of a real friend are also a key part of this wonderful picture book. Avocado is just trying to figure out what he is-fruit, vegetable, cheese, or some sort of other food group but no one thinks he fits into their group for one reason or another. About the time he is about to give up finds his niche, tomato tells him that no one thinks he is a fruit, either, but that doesn’t stop him from recognizing his worth. With Tomato’s help, Avocado begins to feel much better and enjoy all that he is.

“It was true. They could just be themselves, and that was enough. Suddenly Avocado didn’t feel lost and alone anymore.” (Closing quote.)

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all about finding your place in the world, about feeling at ease in your own skin (or peel), and about being welcomed. In the case of avocado, the fruit-veggie aisle was perfect, until veggies began to make it feel "different", followed by fruits doing the same. it takes a tomato, familiar with being mixed-and-misunderstood to offer reassurance and some sense of self.
This is a great example of a book that works at many levels:
Pure entertainment and laughs,
Science-y sensibilities to launch further discussion and exploration,
Analogy for group dynamics, other-ing, and self-awareness.
The art is vibrant and crisp and simply-drawn with emotive facial details that encourage empathy.