Reviewed by Lynn Grudnik

This entrancing picture book by Dianne Warren and Susan Smith Jones, Ph.D., is cleverly designed to be reversible. It features vegetables from front to the middle, fruits when you turn it over and go the other way. Beautiful four-color illustrations and rhyming verses introduce children to the connections between what they eat and how they look, feel, and perform. You’ll discover exciting new ways to help your children eat right-beginning today!

Each illustration in the book has been carefully chosen to prompt interaction between the child and the reader, or between the child and the picture itself if he or she is already reading. The entertaining text not only teaches about fresh, delicious whole foods but also helps develop math and reading skills as children take an active part in reading it. This “we are what we eat” book is the ideal way to lay the groundwork for lifelong healthy eating habits.

Both Jones and Warren have Lifetime Teaching Credentials and extensive experience teaching nutrition to children worldwide. Their desire to encourage awareness of and appreciation for nutritionally sound foods is expressed in a delightfully entertaining way. Because even the youngest children can participate in the reading process, learning about these colorful fresh fruits and vegetables is fun and this in turn promotes healthy self-esteem and a positive attitude about learning in general.

Children everywhere love and deserve this unique volume. After all, what better gift can you give them as they grow than the gift of vitality and radiant health? Enjoy Vegetable Soup/The Fruit Bowl with all the children in your life. It’s engaging, empowering, and packed with ideas that promise the best of health.

Listen to what some of the experts say about this special book:

Children develop their taste preferences as they grow up,” writes Dean Ornish, M.D., author and President and Director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute. “Therefore, parents would be wise to feed their children a healthy diet. The authors of Vegetable Soup/The Fruit Bowl show us how.” Wayne W. Dyer, Ph.D., author of The Power of Intention, says, “Our bodies are made up of the food we eat. Fruits and vegetables are God’s loving gifts to us. When we eat these foods we create healthy, loving bodies. Vegetable Soup/The Fruit Bowl helps us, as parents and teachers, to build this awareness in our children. The choice is ours. We can improve our health by choosing to eat these precious gifts.”

“I think that Vegetable Soup/The Fruit Bowl is the finest children’s book written on the benefits of produce related to health. With the abundant supplies and varieties of fruits and vegetables available today, it has never been easier to get our kids to eat fresh and stay healthy,” Tony Tantillo, the Fresh Grocer, states emphatically.

And William P. Castelli, M.D., offers, “We must, as parents, teachers, and health professionals, get our children on safer diets and into the habit of eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Vegetable Soup/The Fruit Bowl helps us lead them in the right direction.”