The new thing in picture books seems to be giant books – Just One Bite is the second book I’ve read recently that is bigger than your average picture book at twelve inches by twelve inches. But there’s a reason for the size – each page shows a life-sized bite of food: from the worm that scoops a tiny bit of dirt, to the bear who licks a pawful of honey, to the sperm whale that gulps down a giant squid. Geoff Waring’s illustrations are done in brush, crayon and computer-aided artwork and each of the 11 animals is exquisitely depicted.
Just One Bite would appeal to kids who are interested in the real world or just love animals. The descriptions are minimal and fun to read aloud. The animals progress from small (the worm) to large (the sperm whale) and as the animals get bigger the amount we see gets smaller – obviously a whole giraffe won’t fit in a book so we see the giraffe’s eye and mouth. The sperm whale is only an eye and teeth as it gulps the squid.
While the life-sized pictures of an animal’s meal are interesting, the real meat of the book (see what I did there?) is at the end where the eating habits and methods of each animal is described in more detail. Did you know earthworms are decomposers? They turn dead leaves, twigs and other matter into healthy soil. An octopus eats the meat of crabs, clams and snails and has a pretty ingenious way of sucking the meat out through a crack in the shell.
To find out how a butterfly sips its nectar, how many pounds of food per minute a Komodo dragon can eat or how that sperm whale finds its prey, check out Just One Bite. You just may want to do it on an empty stomach.
Nancy is glad she doesn’t have to catch her own food. She blogs about her 2 boys and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys
Anne says
looks delicious! the realism aspect would really appeal to my 4 yr old – may go on the christmas list!
Dawn says
I’m a big fan of these “life-size” books- we’ve borrowed several from the library and the kids are amazed at the realism factor!