[BOOK REVIEW] The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman

Title:  The Seven Silly Eaters

Author:  Mary Ann Hoberman

Artist:  Marla Frazee

Genre:  Family / Food / Manners

Year Published: 1997

Year Read:  2015

Publisher: Gulliver Books   

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 

Now a few years ago, a couple of my book friends had recommended me this cute children’s book called “The Seven Silly Eaters” by Mary Ann Hoberman along with illustrations by Marla Frazee, to read.  But I was never able to get around to reading this book until just recently and now I wish that I had actually read this book many years ago!

 

When Mr. and Mrs. Peters had a son named Peter, their lives were perfect except for one thing…Peter was an extremely picky eater as he would only drink warm milk and refused to drink any kind of milk that is not warm.  So, Mrs. Peters ended up making Peter’s milk the way he likes it.  However, things get even more exhausting for Mrs. Peters when she ended up having six more children and they each have their different preferences for food:

• Lucy always wanted homemade pink lemonade.

• Jack would only eat applesauce.

• Mac would always take out the lumps in his oatmeal.

• Mary Lou loves homemade bread.

• The twins Flo and Fran like their eggs a different way such as, Flo wanting her eggs poached while Fran likes her eggs fried.

All of these demands eventually made Mrs. Peters a wreck, until her birthday was coming up and she thought that her family would forget all about her birthday.  But, as it turns out, the kids are planning something special for Mrs. Peters’ birthday!

What are the children planning to do for Mrs. Peters’ birthday?

Read this book to find out!

Wow!  I just simply adore this book!  It has everything that you would expect to see from a story that is about how parents try to deal with children who are picky eaters, except in this case, Mr. and Mrs. Peters has seven children who are picky eaters (so you can imagine what that would be like)!  Mary Ann Hoberman has done a fantastic job at writing this story as the story is extremely cute and speaks out to many parents who have to deal with children who are picky eaters and who try to do everything in their powers to make sure that their children are satisfied.  I really loved the fact that this story manages to be more humorous about this situation because not only do I sympathize with Mrs. Peters in having to deal with her children being picky eaters, but I also enjoyed seeing the different types of food that the kids liked, such as Lucy loving homemade pink lemonade (which I love pink lemonade myself, by the way) and Mary Lou loving homemade bread (which was something I wanted to make for myself for years now).  I also loved the way that Mary Ann Hoberman made the text into a rhyming scheme as it made the story more creative and fun to read! Marla Frazee’s artwork is truly cute and hilarious to look at, especially of the seven children constantly asking their mother to make them their favorite meals.  I always thought that the fact that the family’s house looks so messy and chaotic really complements the chaotic situation that Mr. and Mrs. Peter’s find themselves in when they have to take care of seven children in a small house and it also makes the illustrations extremely unique to look at.

Now, this is probably not a big deal, but I was a little annoyed with the fact Mr. Peters was barely acknowledged to in this story.  If you read the text of this book, you will notice that Mr. Peters is barely mentioned at all and the only way you would know that he even exists in this story is through the illustrations of him standing next to Mrs. Peters throughout each image.  I usually have issues with characters that are shown in a story, but barely make an impact on the actual story and I guess that is why this issue kind of bothered me, even though I still enjoyed the story.

Overall, “The Seven Silly Eaters” is a truly enjoyable book for parents who have to deal with children who are picky eaters and children who love reading a story that is full of fun!  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this story.

By the way, does anyone have a recipe for pink lemonade cake? I would love to try that out someday!