How to Eat a Book written and illustrated by Mrs. and Mr. MacLeod is an unusual picture book full of fun, fooling around and fully sensible ideas about the power of books. As the story opens Shelia and her twin cousins Gerald and Geraldine each decide to eat a book! However, it’s not as simple as that.
After the threesome each eat their book, things start to really happen. Shelia flies into an outer-space world of words where planets are made of diamonds. Gerald tries to avoid a Bug-a-Boo by hiding between the lines of his book. And Geraldine, who displays her usual angry self, breaks free of her book by tearing through the pages.
The primary colors of red, yellow, and blue are used throughout and speak softly to the personality of each character. Shelia has a yellow book, Gerald has a blue book, and Geraldine has a red book that matches her red-hot disposition! Readers will have great fun following their adventures. The interesting illustrations are designed with pen and ink and a cut-out method that when photographed gives the reader a panoramic visual experience.
The brilliant and lasting thought for the reader is: “the way to eat a book, is to let THE BOOK EAT YOU!”
How to Eat a Book written and illustrated by Mrs. and Mr. MacLeod is full of visual fun and action-packed situations to ponder. This is the MacLeod’s first picture book--- expect more to come. This book is ideal for readers 5-9 years of age who enjoy imaginative thinking (Union Square and Company) 2022.
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Activity Questions for How to Eat a Book
Questions for older readers: Which of the three main characters is your favorite? Why? If you were to include the cat more into this story, how would you do it? How is Shelia’s discovery about how, why, and what if necessary for storytelling? What does it mean when the writers suggest that to read a story you must allow the book to eat you?
Activity for younger readers: The shelves in the library shown in the illustrations are full of books without titles. Draw a picture of one of these shelves and include your favorite books by writing the name of your favorite titles directly on the spine of the books. Think about what books you are going to include before starting your picture.
Reread this book and think about the roll each of the following characters played in this story: the Bug-a-Boo, the Coo Coo, the Dinosaur, and the cat. Then, get up and try moving about as each of these four characters did in this book. For extra fun add a sound to each of these characters as they move.
