Eats

With a fresh cast of animal characters — and what they eat — the creative team of Marthe Jocelyn and Tom Slaughter has produced another work in their award-winning series for very young book and art lovers.

Marthe Jocelyn’s simple concept of matching creatures — familiar and unusual — with their favorite foods is brought to life by the sparkling colors and masterfully cut paper shapes of Tom Slaughter’s illustrations; a first taste of modern art. And the surprise final picture makes a satisfying dessert.

Previous titles have received acclaim from Japan to Denmark, from France to Mexico. Enhancing a child’s visual and verbal vocabulary, Eats makes a joyful addition to the collection.

Children's Literature

This nonfiction book for the very young has a colorful illustration and only one or two words on each page. The bold, painted-paper cuts on each page show an animal and something it eats. On the first page are the words worm and bird; the picture shows a worm and a bird. This continues with a squirrel, giraffes, an anteater, a frog, bees, a rat, a dog, a whale, a squid, bears, fish, a zebra, a monkey, and a panda. Each is pictured with something that they usually eat. At the end, Marthe Jocelyn brings the focus back the reader, asking "And who eats ice cream?" This book follows the food chain in the simplest of terms. Readers could learn to read the words by identifying the picture. They could also learn a basic science concept from this simple book. There are a few pages where it is difficult to read the words because the background color does not sufficiently contrast with the color of the words. For example, the word "ants" is written in white on a yellow background, and some words are written in black on a deep blue background. Reviewer: Vicki Foote

Marthe Jocelyn is an award-winning author and illustrator who worked for many years as a toy designer before turning her hand to writing. Her picture book, Hannah’s Collections, was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award for Illustration. She has created eight picture books, written six novels, one work of nonfiction for older readers, and edited two short story collections.

Tom Slaughter was born in New York City in 1955. He is an artist whose work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada. His prints are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His most recent children’s book is ABC x 3: English, Español, Français. His first three books are available in Danish, French, Japanese, and Spanish language editions.