Customer Reviews

Food Play

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Food Play", the new book by Saxton Freymann and Joost Ellfers, presents a look at fruits and vegetables in a way that many have never quite seen them before. Who ever knew these tasty treats had a side life full of a range of emotions? From frightening pumpkins to silly scallions, prepare to laugh out loud from page one right to the end.

I was delighted to have read the original "Play With Your Food" when it was published a few years ago but this new offering takes fruit and vegetable recreation (or better yet, "re-creation") to a new level. We're treated to a pear dog holding a squash umbrella with an asparagus handle and a French poodle made completely out of cauliflower....right down to the dog bone. Yet it is the action figures that really stand out. An embarrased mushroom shows shock when he catapults his fellow mushroom off its seesaw seat...the seesaw itself being a stalk of rhubarb. And two strawberries, approaching one another somewhat amorously, end up kissing. It's enough to want to adopt them!

"Food Play" is great for all ages and I highly recommend it. I hope the authors are working on a sequel to give us yet many more reasons to laugh.

Great book for young children. The pictures are cute and fun to look at. I got this for my autistic son as he likes these Elffers and Freymann books.

I can't believe that I am going to say this about a book with absolutely no words in it, but this is the funniest book I have ever read! The artists took all sorts of fruits and vegetables, and carved them into all sorts of really funny interesting shapes. Some are quite minimalist (which makes you think that the artists must be geniuses for seeing the shapes in the fruit), and some more elaborate, but they are all great.

If you are a fan of a well-carved jack-o-lantern, then you will like this book. My kids and I think that it is great!

This book has no words and so would be great in a classroom for discussions about feelings or as a resource for writing prompts. Kids will love the "personalities" of the foods used in the illustrations. Who knows, they may even start enjoying the idea of choosing fruits and veggies at the grocery!

This is so amazing! Each page made me smile! They are works of art!

This is not one of the most profound literary works of our time, but it's a delightful addition to my living room and a great conversation piece. It never fails to get a smile. Very cleverly done book and a nice gift for any age, not only children (I'm way past the category of 'child'). Can be appreciated by all kinds of people whether they can read or not.

This is a cute book for an office waiting room, and that's exactly where I "read" it, or perused it since there are no words. My favorite picture was of the mushrooms on the rhubarb teeter totter. The big fat one on the lower end with an appalled look on his face, while the smaller one is soaring with a look of glee above his seat. A close second was the banana dolphins, which really looked like dolphins. But, it's a novelty book, all this photography of artwork made entirely from food. It's not something that most people would look through more than once. That's why it's a good waiting room book or coffee table book. Something neat to pass the time.

Even with that goal though, I think the book should have been cut in half, 300+ pages is way too much. There was much repetitiveness in pictures. Many were just another roundish fruit/vegetable with some facial expression.

But, if you have a waiting room, or lots of people browsing your coffee table, this might be a book to pick up. Otherwise, it's not worth the money in my opinion.

This is another hit from Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers! Their imagination using fruits and vegetables makes the 350 pages of pure fun and entertainment. No words are needed to keep children and adults from sitting down and reading and enjoying a book with your eyes. What fruits and vegetables is that walrus made from.... can it be it's a sweet potato? Check out the mushroom chef with frying pan, singing Kiwi, onion cat, a lemon car, orange pig, pear chick, kale picture frame with fruit inside, banana pup and puppy.... and the list goes on and on.

Find a comfortable spot and sit down and enjoy this book!

I purchased this book for my grandparents after some experience with Joost and Effers' work. Four months later, they are still carrying the volume around with them to show friends and family. It's a wonderful, silly little book, all photographs of vegetables with remarkably human expressions. Certainly, we've all imagined a pumpkin as an evil face -- but who knew that oranges could throw temper tantrums?

Food Play's compact size and wordless but perfectly clear pictures make it perfect for young children, especially those that like to "read" to themselves. My siblings, ages 5-9, spent an hour trying to choose a favorite page -- with over three hundred to pick from, it's worth quite a bit of entertainment. As either an excellent icebreaker to leave out on the coffee table or a special treat for those long waits in the pediatrician's office, I highly recommend Food Play.

Food Play is clever, and gave many, many laughs. It's good, creative, innocent fun, suitable for any age, The photographs have good, clear color and lighting. The imagination of the "artist" is inexhaustible, who seeems to discover expression in most unusual sujects. I highly recommend it as a thank-you gift, a cheer-up thought, or just an unusual choice to amuse and delight.