Never Take a Pig to Lunch: And Other Poems about the Fun of Eating (Orchard Paperbacks) [Paperback]

Nadine Bernard Westcott (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Series: Orchard Paperbacks

Here are more than 60 delicious poems that capture a child's-eye view of food, from the joys of eating pizza and ice cream to the art of avoiding liver and school lunch. Rollicking verses by Eve Merriam, Jack Prelutsky and others combined with vibrant, laugh-out loud illustrations ensure a book that children will devour. Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Combine in a large-format book some 60 outrageously funny poems about food. Illustrate liberally with whimsy and panache, and the result might be this deliciously gleeful volume. The menu on the back cover of Westcott's clever collection promises poems about "the fun of eating" organized into four overlapping categories: "eating silly things," "eating foods we like," "eating too much" and "manners at the table." Westcott puts the emphasis on fun: she not only spices the volume with Miss Piggy's advice about diets ("Never eat more than you can lift") but adds Nora Ephron's advice about spinach ("Divide into little piles. Rearrange into new piles. After five or six maneuvers, sit back and say you are full"). Even poems by the generally decorous Eve Merriam and Myra Cohn Livingston seem to reflect the cheeky good humor and giddiness of the more numerous selections by Florence Parry Heide, Ogden Nash and Jack Prelutsky. Westcott's lively and comical watercolors--like those she does for a regular column in Gourmet magazine--will satisfy anyone with a taste for humor. All ages.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-A food-oriented collection of limericks, free verse, and other styles of rhyme by such well-known poets and humorists as Ogden Nash, Eve Merriam, Florence Parry Heide, Jack Prelutsky, John Ciardi, David McCord, and others. Poems about popular treats, disgusting eating habits, and outrageous table manners are among the categories included. Westcott's rollicking cartoons, done in ink and acrylics, capture the fun. Even reluctant readers will find this tempting title hard to resist.
Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (NY) (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590631160
• ISBN-13: 978-0590631167
• ASIN: 0531070980
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,447,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nadine Bernard Westcott has illustrated over 100 books, including I KNOW AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A FLY, PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY, MISS MARY MACK, SILLY MILLY, GOING ON A BOOK HUNT,THE LIBRARY DOORS, UP DOWN AND AROUND, EENSY WEENSY SPIDER, and DO PIRATES TAKE BATHS?. Initially, she designed greeting cards for Hallmark Cards and later, Hartland Cards, a company she and her husband operated in Woodstock, VT. Today, Nadine lives in Nantucket, MA and divides her time between illustrating and designing her own line of fabrics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kids love it!, July 29, 2005

By 

B. Christiansen (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Never Take a Pig to Lunch: And Other Poems about the Fun of Eating (Orchard Paperbacks) (Paperback)

I am a first grade teacher & have been using this book for the last 6 years in my classroom. It finally bit the dust last year! The kids' love all of the fun poetry! Great book to read with your kids.

4.0 out of 5 stars Never Take a Pig to Lunch and Other Poems About the Fun of Eating, January 23, 2012

By 

Anna M. Ligtenberg "AnnaLovesBooks" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Never Take a Pig to Lunch and Other Poems About the Fun of Eating

ISBN 0439065100 - Printed in the U.S.A. No age range suggested. Paperback, 64 pages. Published by Scholastic Inc. in 1994. Selected, illustrated and copyright held by Nadine Bernard Westcott, but includes works by 33 different authors (list at end of review).

The poems are broken into groups, sort of like chapters but somehow not - "Look Out Stomach, Here It Comes! (Poems about eating silly things)," "We All Scream For Ice Cream (Poems about eating foods we like)," "Never Eat More Than You Can Lift (Poems about eating too much)," and "My Mother Says I'm Sickening (Poems about manners at the table)."

The writing ranges from mildly amusing to wildly hilarious. Bad grammar and terrible punctuation - and there's a little of both, because poetry lives outside those rules - couldn't mar the perfection of this book. It is wild and colorful, exuberant and gross, lyrical and limerick-al. Best of all, I learned something: there's a lot of poetry about food! The first time your child announces that s/he hates poetry, this is your answer. No one can resist for long.

- AnnaLovesBooks

Authors: Arnold Adoff, John Agard, Dorothy Aldis, Richard Armour, Hilaire Belloc, Ralph Bergengren, Gelett Burgess, Marchette Chute, John Ciardi, Charles Connell, Delia Ephron, David Greenberg, Florence Parry Heide, Oliver Herford, Mary Ann Hoberman, James L. Hymes, Lucia Hymes, X.J. Kennedy, Steven Kroll, J.A. Lindon, Myra Cohn Livingston, David McCord, Eve Merriam, Spike Milligan, Miss Piggy, Lilian Moore, Ogden Nash, Roxanne Heide Pierce, Jack Prelutsky, Susan Alton Schmeltz, Angela Sidey, Peter Wesley-Smith, and Charles Wilkins.