SOUP? Try LENTIL SOUP by Carole Tremblay and Marieen Poignonec

Here in Wisconsin it's the first day of May, but the weather has been stubbornly cold, blustery, and not at all spring-like. That's frustrating, but not entirely surprising. When the sun shines through on a cold, windy day, I can feel spring nudging its way around the corner. But when cloudy and overcast conditions persist for days on end, I need to cook up a pot of soup. 

ORCA BOOKS, Canada, 2022

I plan to have the ingredients for LENTIL SOUP on hand the next time that happens. Those ingredients are not only tasty and healthy, they are cleverly comic in a recent picture book. Every day veggies are brought to memorable life in the conversation between young mouse Buddy and his increasingly exasperated mother. LENTIL SOUP is written by Carole Tremblay and illustrated by Maureen Poignonec, 

The endpapers reveal an array of bite-sized veggies with cheeky expressions in their google eyes, eyes that are similar to the wide-eyed pair who tell the entire story in speech bubbles with delicately-lined and softly colored images related to each exchange. 

When mother serves up steaming hot soup, the young one declares it too hot to eat. Then, an exchange of questions/answers ensues, with Buddy questioning every ingredient, starting with those lentils. Mother responds with answers posed as four multiple choice options, three of which are laughably absurd. The actual answer is informative, to Buddy and to readers, leading to the next, then the next, then the next. As Buddy recognizes his mother's progressive impatience, he offers optional answers to his own questions. Mom takes the bait and supplies the correct response, right down to the herbs. 

By that time the soup is too cold (kids will love predicting that) and needs to return to the pot to heat up. The humor throughout is light and delightful, while providing a template for young readers to define or explain other fruits or vegetables (or other things) using the four-options approach and simple drawings of their thoughts. Imaginations will run wild!

The concluding two pages are deliciously tongue-in-cheek, and cheeky, making Buddy an unforgettable character. I'm wondering if he and his mother may appear in a future story? There's a bonus at the end- Mother's recipe for lentil soup! Can you nominate some other recipe that deserves thorough examination through the eyes of Buddy and company?

When it comes to fictional books with factual ingredients, this one is a gem. Kids will adore the interaction in this deftly-depicted child-parent relationship that suggests amusement, affection, and humor-bordering-on-annoyance. 

Pull up a hot bowl of soup and this book for a heartwarming experience. While you're at it, hold warm thoughts for a change to spring weather, please!