The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day by Loreen Leedy
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) introduced the original food pyramid in 1992 to help guide Americans in eating healthy. The pyramid was revised in 2005, using colored stripes of different sizes to show the types of food and portions of each that we should be eating. In 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama helped to release MyPlate, which has now replaced the food pyramid. As a result, even after being revised, this picture book is now out of date. It can still be used to teach children about healthy eating choices though. In the book, the restaurant The Edible Pyramid has just opened. The animal guests receive a pyramid menu to help them choose a meal with guidance from the waiter. The waiter, goes through each category of the pyramid giving examples of foods that belong to each group. There really wasn’t much of a story here, with the book being more of a teaching tool about the pyramid. While the book aims to target younger children with the animal characters and colorful illustrations, I think real photographs and pictures of food would be more informative, especially with the foods that children may not be familiar with (cottage cheese, tuna, granola, etc.) This book is a decent introduction for younger children to the basic food groups.
*This book was borrowed from the library.
