Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal

How many moms have experienced a meal with a toddler that includes negotiating the number of bites they must eat of something before they can have dessert? In my family, my mother would coerce us to eat an unfavorable morsel on our plate by saying, “take a bite for your teacher?” We certainly didn’t want to disappoint someone we held in high regard(this trick worked everytime!).

Similarly, Amy Krouse Rosenthal cleverly uses a bit of reverse psychology on finicky eaters in her children’s book, Little Pea. She puts a twist on the oh-so-repetitious parental line, “If you want to grow up to be big and strong you need to eat your vegetables.”

Little Pea is about a little pea who must eat his “candy” dinner everynight before he can have dessert. Well, little pea is just like any other child enjoying a playful life, but frustrated with the fact that he HAS to eat candy every night for dinner. (Can you relate to the mealtime dilemma of negotiating with a finicky eater?)

Aside from being clever, Rosenthal provides an educational tool to toddlers by providing examples of days of the week and color recognition. “Monday, red candy. Tuesday, orange candy.” And so on. Rosenthal also reinforces counting and number value as Little Pea negotiates with his parents for dessert.”Eat five pieces and you can have dessert,” his mother insists. “One…yuck. Two…blech.” He continues until, at last, Little Pea has earned his dessert!

What’s for dessert?

Spinach. And Little Pea licked his dessert plate clean!

Little Pea is such a fun read for both parents and children!