This November, filled with feasting and gratitude, we are celebrating food with two new delicious picture books!
- The first is “How Do You Eat Color” (2025, Eerdman’s Books for Young Readers, written by Mabi David, illustrated by Yas Doctor, translated by Karen Llagas, ages 3-6).
“Do you know how red tastes?” the text asks the reader.
Bright watercolor illustrations show two children and their pet chameleon receiving a large basket of fruits and vegetables at a market.
“Does it tickle the tongue? Is green sweet and cold like your favorite sorbet?”
From here, we follow our characters through a day of food and adventure as each vibrant spread features a different color.
Beginning with green, they play outdoors, breathe deep and relish the flavor of the earth in leafy greens. Next, we have red, as our characters savor tomatoes, red beans and an icy hibiscus dessert.
“Sample sunshine in yellow,” we read, as the characters row mangoes down a river dotted with pineapples. After a nap, they sip white coconut juice and taste orange at sunset, “while the moon hangs like a melon in the sky.”
As they tuck themselves into bed like yams, we see the colors fading from purple to the black of sleep. Finally, a new day arrives, bright and happy, “painted with the colors of fruits and vegetables.”
A colorful backmatter section tells the reader that this book was first published in the Philippines. Then each section introduces a different colored fruit or vegetable from the text, telling readers what it is, how to eat it and how it helps their bodies.
- Next is “Fish Fry Friday” (2025, Abrams Books for Young Readers, written by Winsome Bingham, illustrated by C.G. Esperanza, ages 4-9).
In this companion book to “Soul Food Sunday” (reviewed April 2022), the main character tells us that this Friday, she gets to spend the day with Granny getting ready for her Friday evening fish fry.
Evocative text paired with emotive paintings show the pair loading their fishing gear in Granny’s jeep while “the moon and stars are still in the sky.”
Driving along stilled streets, they arrive at the pier on the Army post, where a group cheers.
“‘Why are they cheering, Granny?’ I ask.”
“’We know you the fish magnet queen, honey,’ a woman tells Granny.”
Readers will love the active, colorful text and art as they bait the hook, fling the line, wait and “Bob-Bob-Bob! Jerk-Jerk-Jerk!” catch “A croaker!” and more.
Back at home, they clean the fish; Granny scales, skins and cuts fillets; then they make the batter, cracking eggs and dicing onions: “Chup-Chup-Chup!”
“’The batter is my favorite,’ Granny says.”
“’You have a lot of favorites,’ I say.”
“Granny winks and says, ‘Wait till I tell you my favorite, favorite, favorite part.’”
The love and connection and joy they have in working together shines through as the two fry fish and hushpuppies.
“The peppery sauce tingles my tongue,” our narrator says as she tries a hushpuppy with hot sauce.
Soon, the rest of the family arrives, each bringing side dishes. And after their meal, Granny says, “Spending the day with you, baby, is my favorite, favorite, favorite part!”
An author’s note follows, in which the author describes her family’s Friday fish fries growing up in Florida, along with a recipe for hand-rolled honey hush puppies.
Alice B. McGinty (alicebmcginty.com) is the award-winning author of almost 50 books for children and runs a summer writing camp for teens, Words on Fire.
