Little Pea

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This is the story of Little Pea, Mama Pea and Papa Pea.

This is a lighthearted take on the story of many families.

One of my twins is a picky eater. Since her (ooops, I revealed which twin!) birth, this eating habit has not changed.

Don't worry, I won't pretend that this book has revolutionized things, it has not. But it has helped to put things in perspective - for both of us.
When the eating problem (my daughter simply doesn't like to eat) emerged, we looked everywhere for possible solutions.

It didn't take me a long time to try the - not so original -idea try to find a book that would - at least partially - try to remove the tension from the "eating disputes" that we were having at almost every mealtime.

Enter Little Pea. Some would call this book a smashing attempt at reverse psychology, I think it is plain hillarious. And most importantly my kids loved it ever since Little Pea entered our house almost a year ago.

The book's author Amy Krouse Rosenthal was nothing less than bold in her original attempt to defuse the meal-related tensions peppering relationships between grown-ups and children. Her trick? Well, Little Pea hates to eat candy and his parents don't let him eat his dessert (spinach) until Little Pea finishes his meal consisting of five candies. My kids were first incredulous to see this story line and then roaring with laughter.

The economical and self-explanatory illustrations by Jen Corace just serve to prove the wisdom of the old adage "less is more", as my kids didn't need any "additional explanations" to follow the story.

We have had Little Pea on or family bookshelf for almost 12 months and I want to give you an illustration about how it fares. Last night we read Little Pea again following a pause of three weeks and my twins were once again squealing with laughter at the "sorry fate" of Little Pea who had to deal with five pieces of candy before getting his dessert.

The high point of the book is the part were Little Pea makes YUCK! and BLECH! sounds after each piece of candy, my boy and girl can't get enough! Most importantly, I manage to squeeze out a laugh from my daughter who is a picky eater and that is always music for my heart.

My twins also love the great bonding that takes place between Little Pea and Mama and Papa Pea, it is something they relate to immediately.

After the great reaction to Little Pea I simply had to buy my kids the companion volumes of Little Hoot and Little Oink, two further volumes by the same author/illustrator team and based on the same reverse pshycology principle. Little Hoot wants to go to bed early - but his parents force him to play more, while Little Oink is a piggy who likes to tidy up everything, but his parents force him to make a mess.

I don't see how you can make a mistake with this trio, but make sure to start with Little Pea. He is the rascal that will open the door to a kid's heart.

There is also a cute triple box set of board book versions available for sale that includes Little Pea, Little Hoot and Little Oink.

 P.S. By the way, if you are wondering why many books are receiving positive reviews from me: well, its simple, all of them passed a rigorous pre-selection process before I ordered them - I don't like to throw away my cash. Rarely I buy a book that seriously underperforms - but it does happen of course. Plus I prefer to share the good ones with you. Nevertheless, some of my book orders failed to live up to expectations and I will soon share some of those clunkers as well.