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Reviewed by: Taylor Coonelly, Elementary School Librarian Title: There's No Such Thing as Vegetables Author: Kyle Lukoff Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: 6-8 Genre/Type of Book: Nonfiction Picturebook
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: N/A Recommended for a school library: No Reason(s) for choosing the book: This book was nominated for the CYBILS award in Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be: Kyle Lukoff's There's No Such Thing As Vegetables is a humorous look at how categories are human-made, and shape our understanding of the world around us. |
Review:
Our main character Chester is tasked with finding vegetables at the local garden so his mom can make salads for lunch. As he searches around the garden, he is met with various plants he considers vegetables and is forced to reconcile is idea of vegetables with what the plants actually are - for example, broccoli is a flower, and potatoes are roots. Chester cannot come up with the definition of what is a vegetable, and is forced to leave the garden empty-handed.
With talking plants and fruit/vegetable puns, Lukoff has created an imaginative story that tackles the larger idea of categorization. In both the author's note and the description, he discusses on categories that people believe are inherent are actually created by humans and can often be a source of misinformation and bias. He connects the idea of social constructs with the idea of vegetables and fruit, a common distinction that causes confusion. While I think that Lukoff was able to discuss the idea of categories/social constructs in a easier understood way, I think that this idea would be lost on an elementary and perhaps even a middle grade audience. I think that conversations about what are vegetables or not would be had and understood, but I feel like the deeper message of the book would be lost on the audience Lukoff intended to write for.
The illustrations are cute, with personified vegetables, and might draw a student in based on the cover. I could see this book being used in a lesson for older middle grade students, perhaps in taking about social ideas, but this book would not be my first recommendation in this category.
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For more information about this book, see the Publishers Website
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