Fast Food [Hardcover]

Joost Elffers (Author), Joost Elffers Saxton Freymann (Author), Saxton Freymann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006 | Age Range: 4 and up

Fruits and vegetables leap off the plate and off the page in Saxton Freymann's fast-paced tribute to things that GO!

When you see piles of veggies lying sedately around the corner store, you'd never guess all that produce really wants to go, go, GO! But Saxton Freymann did, and he's transformed those basking berries and lazy legumes into vehicles of every size and speed. Kids everywhere will thrill over the array of transportation methods on display, from enormous rockets and grand ocean liners to the simplest mechanism of all: your feet. And as always, Freymann's clever vegetable sculptures delight the eye and tickle the funny bone. Hurry up and grab some FAST FOOD!

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 043911019X
• ISBN-13: 978-0439110198
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-Once again, the creative team that brought readers such delicious titles as How Are You Peeling? (1999) and Food for Thought (2005, both Scholastic), is at it again, this time sculpting fruits and vegetables to depict things that go. An engaging mushroom figure (think Pillsbury Dough boy) leads the way as he runs and skips, skis and skates, pedals and glides under his own power. From there, the pace picks up, highlighting mechanical, long-distance vehicles, such as cars, trucks, trains, ocean liners, and helicopters. Each ingenious construction maintains the integrity of its various elements (the train consists of zucchini passenger cars on a celery-stalk track) photographed against solid backgrounds. As any librarian knows, books on transportation always move, and this one, featuring an okra airplane and a ginger kayaker paddling a fava-bean boat, may move faster than most.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* PreS-Gr. 2. Like Freymann and Elffers' other books, such as How Are You Peeling? (1999) and Food for Thought (2005), this picture book takes a theme (here, transportation) and illustrates it with exceptionally clear color photos of ephemeral, sometimes whimsical sculptures created from fruits and vegetables. As quietly witty as its title, the book is narrated by a little mushroom man who suggests different ways of getting about: on foot or by skateboard, wheelchair, bicycle, skis, car, bus, truck, train, sailboat, submarine, airplane, blimp, or rocket. The playful text gallops along smoothly in rhymed couplets, while the illustrations work their inimitable charm. Little mushroom, radish, and gingerroot people drive around in cars made from a variety of foods: peppers, a cucumber, a sweet potato, and (wait for it . . .) a lemon. Because the pear-based helicopter (runners made of string beans, blades of peapods, and piloted by a radish head with a confident smile) is photographed slightly from below and suspended above the tops of leafy parsley stalks, it appears to hover above trees. Clean book design and vivid color reproduction ensure that the art takes center stage here. This handsome book is both a uniquely entertaining addition to preschool and primary-grade units on transportation and an irresistible invitation for children to play creatively with their food. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 043911019X
• ISBN-13: 978-0439110198
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars come on and play with your food June 18, 2006

By Melissa Sack VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

You know that you are not supose to play with your food right? Well now is the time to break that rule! The creators of this book sure have! They have created figures and things that go out of all sorts of fruits and vegetables! Paired up with rhyming text this book is sure to be a hit for kids of all ages!

We love the entire series of these food books. The photography is so well done and the idea of turning food objects into animals and objects is so clever.

Parents of toddlers will enjoy reading this aloud. Not too many words are on each page.

3 of 0 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly creative January 18, 2007

By Carolyn Jean

Format:Hardcover

Fast Food and ALL the books by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann are incredibly creative! The vivid colors draw the kids in and the imagination they have with food captures their attention! Fast Food makes my kids want to eat their vegetables! As does "Mr. Pompos' Nose" and "The Lonely Sea Horse". They have others too! Not to mention, as an adult, you'll learn what some vegetables and fruits look like that you may have never seen "live" before. It's a great education on "foodology" for the family.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Gift for a family January 11, 2008

By Samantha Baxter

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a cute little book. It's always tough to buy gifts for your co-workers because you can easily go so wrong, but I bought this for my boss (who has children) and it was absolutely perfect. The book is adorable, the ideas are so imaginative, and it's a great way to encourage little kids to start healthy eating habits with the imaginative use of vegetables (it makes the vegetables gain so much personality). With all of the junk food marketing targeted at children, this is a refreshing change to see healthy fruits and vegetables presented as an equally enticing alternative.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good encouragement for good eating! May 24, 2009

By Lisa S. Kirkman

Format:Hardcover

My mom picked up this book for my 2.5-year-old daughter laughing her a** off. My daughter had to warm to it and now is old enough to appreciate that there are two levels...people in vehicles AND food. We're struggling to get her to eat her veggies and this book helped us be more effective with that conversation. Delightful and clever artistry. I really adore the green onion people and my daughter loves the little fat mushroom people. I do find myself wondering 'who has time to make this stuff' but Joost and Saxton seem to have made it profitable to play with their food!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever Cuts August 30, 2007

By H. M. Panagos

Format:Hardcover

Here is another wonderful little book of fruit and vegetable art that can't fail to enchant adults and children alike. This one is all about vehicles: trains, buses, cars, trucks, aircraft, boats, all created from common vegetables, piloted and ridden by mushroom-, radish-, scallion-, and banana-people, among others. Each page is good for a chuckle and a second look, don't miss cauliflower Santa in a pear sleigh pulled by a ginger reindeer! This is a child's picture book to be sure, for children of all ages. As in all the other books in this series, the illustrations are very creative. Much of the fun is identifying the foods depicted in each scene. Look carefully or you might miss the parsley tree on the edge of the hot balloon page. Children can't help but get caught up in the game. The text is short and snappy, simple rhymes and easy rhythm for reading. It's a book suitable for group reading or quiet time with your toddler on your lap.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK!!! April 20, 2007

By C. L. Christensen

Format:Hardcover

My 2 1/2 yr. old son LOVES this book. He never tires of reading it and lucky for us, it's so cute and creative that we never tire of reading it to him. Definitely one of the best books he has! Love this book!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring Children's Book March 24, 2013

By RockOn

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a good intro for young minds and not only teaches them about opposites, it exposes them to many different types of foods, facial expressions (projected by the food) and a creative form of artwork. It can be used with many different ages groups to explain opposites, emotions or introduce a new art form. A very well written and designed book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it February 10, 2013

By daisy

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Great book. I purchased this book as a resource on a unit on simple machines. It's great and I recommend it.