About the Author:
In the fertile mind of artist/sculptor Saxton Freymann, a cauliflower is a poodle, an artichoke is a wolf, a banana is an octopus, and a pumpkin is just about anything. Fruits and veggies - meticulously carved, then photographed - are his special gift to the bountiful world of children's literature. "What's great about food," he says, "is that it keeps all of the photos fun." Freymann lives in New York City with his wife and three children, all of whom are very healthy, he says, because they eat the cast of characters he works on. For more information about Saxton Freymann, visit: scholastic.com/tradebooks Born in The Netherlands to artist parents, Joost turned his creative energy to food in 1976, when he became fascinated with the garnishes used by Japanese sushi chefs. The result was Play With Your Food, his first collaboration with Saxton Freymann, and a bestseller for the whole family. Joost believes that if you can open children's eyes and thinking with things they can understand and duplicate - like food creations - a new range of creativity opens up. "Then," he says, "you can take them to a museum."
From Booklist:
*Starred Review* PreS. Freymann and Elffers previously used their ingenious food sculptures to introduce concepts in How Are You Peeling (1999) and One Lonely Sea Horse (2000). They have truly perfected their craft in this winning collection that covers basic shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and opposites--all introduced through images of artfully manipulated fruits and vegetables. Solid, candy-colored backgrounds showcase an irresistible cast of produce-part creatures, which, thanks to a few inspired cuts, reflect an astonishing assortment of expressions and personalities. The simple, clean design is ideal for demonstrating the concepts; the uncluttered spreads make counting and identification easy. But it's the playful, wonderfully clever transformation of familiar foods that will win an audience; preschoolers will howl gleefully over glistening green-pepper frogs and a snowman of stacked mushroom caps, who toasts his marshmallow over fruit-skin flames. Fans of their previous books will find much that is familiar here, but in this mix of concept and unabashed food play, the authors get the formula just right. Gillian Engberg
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