The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day [Hardcover]

Loreen Leedy (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1994 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Animal characters learn about "good eating everyday" in a restaurant called The Edible Pyramid, where the waiter offers the foods grouped in sections of the Food Guide Pyramid and customers learn how many servings they need each day.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3?An entertaining, attractive introduction to the food pyramid, still a fairly new concept in nutrition education. The menu at the Edible Pyramid restaurant is based on the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's food guide. The head waiter?a French cat in tails?explains the dishes to his customers, a menagerie of other animals in equally formal attire. Each segment of the pyramid is presented in a two-page spread, defining the food group mentioned and illustrating it with many mouth-watering examples. The recommended number of daily servings is also explained, and after going through the entire menu, the maitre'd helps his diners select a balanced meal. Paintings of the animals and food are done in muted colors. A small pyramid appears in the corner of each illustration, with the block being examined highlighted. Leedy's text is brief and to the point, but witty, especially the animals' commentary. Other helpful books on nutrition for this age group include Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's Nutrition (Holiday, 1992) and Dorothy Baldwin's Health and Food (Rourke, 1987), but neither emphasizes the food pyramid.?Joyce Adams Burner, formerly at Spring Hill Middle School, KS
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5-7. Ushering a group of elegantly clothed animals into the grand opening of the Edible Pyramid restaurant, the suave waiter introduces the selections on the U.S. Department of Agriculture food pyramid, explaining the choices in each category, the number of daily servings recommended for each group, and what a "serving" means. The bold, stylized artwork in muted colors, featuring plates of pancakes, bagels, crackerss and pretzels or a tableful of yogurt, milks, and cheese has a certain panache, but the brief text is flat and dull. Still, there's not much on this important topic, and teachers explaining the food pyramid to young children will find this a useful picture book. Carolyn Phelan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 1 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823411265
• ISBN-13: 978-0823411269
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,921,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing and illustrating picture books for children for over twenty-five years. Though I majored in art in college, at the time I wasn't sure what kind of artist to be. Fortunately, it turned out that combining words and art to create picture books was a perfect career for me. Most of my books center around a particular topic such as fractions, the solar system, writing, and so on. The characters and story lines help put the subject matter into a meaningful context for young readers.

After growing up mostly in Delaware, I moved to central Florida a couple of decades ago, and currently live with my husband Andy on a three acre property with hawks, herons, and horses (the horses live next door.) We love the rustle of the pines in the breeze, the screeching of sandhill cranes flying overhead, and the chattering of many small birds that come and go as they please.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book to teach the food pyramid to young children!!!, November 7, 1998

By 

Robert Bauer ([e-mail] (Kentland, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day (Hardcover)

I am a first grade teacher in Indiana. I used this book with my students when studying the food pyramid. It was a big success. The illustrations were very bright and kept the students attention! The text idea of the restaurant was fun for the children. Their most favorite part was trying to figure out what the creature was that kept trying to get some food. Look and see if you can guess!!!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Edible Pyramid has been updated!, April 5, 2007

By 

Beezy (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day (Hardcover)

Please forgive me for the 5 star review since I'm the author and illustrator of this book, but I am very enthusiastic about it. It has been revised to reflect the USDA's new MyPyramid program which is designed to educate children about their food choices and encourage them to be active every day. I combined four of the original Grains pages into one spread to allow room for a new 2-page spread about exercise. In regards to a very negative review below, people in cultures all over the world have included foods from the various food groups in their diets and have enjoyed good health. It is important for children to become familiar with a wide variety of food choices and to understand what is a vegetable, what is a fruit, what is a grain, and so on. Happy eating and reading!
Loreen Leedy

5.0 out of 5 stars thanks, December 21, 2011

By 

bookmaster25 "Jenn" (Sioux Falls, SD) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day (Reading Rainbow Books) (Paperback)

This book was great. Thanks so much. The packaging was also great! Thank you thank you thank you ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !