Monday 19 November 2018

The Secret Lives of Fruits and Veggies: The First Batch by Symone Marcella and A. J. Cosmo (Children's, 7 years +, 10E/10E)

September 2018, Symone Marcella, 152 pages, Paperback, Review copy 

Book summary
Can you keep a secret?

Did you know there’s a secret world right under your nose? It’s a world full of wit and adventure, mishap and mayhem. It’s a secret world of fruits and vegetables, each with their own personalities and preferences.

After closing time, fruits and vegetables clash in the supermarket, with disastrous results. Time is ticking. Can they overcome their differences before the store opens or will they end up being... discarded?

Tammy Tomato longs for adventure. She hates being stuck in a box all day, waiting to be bought and taken home by The People. All Tammy wants is to escape so she can go explore the supermarket and then travel the world. Her brother, Tom Tomato, thinks she’s crazy for seeking freedom. Tammy is determined to have her adventure but gets more than she bargained for when she encounters the dreaded, cantankerous Curtie Cauliflower. Tammy soon realises her troubles are just beginning…


Nayu's thoughts
You'll never look at a supermarket in the same way after this gem lettuce of a read (bad pun, sorry). I like it when objects come to life, and while it is a bit disconcerting how eager most of the fruit and veg is to be eaten by us humans, their characterisation is absolutely hilarious. Certain fruit and veg have specific personalities, be they grumblers, whiners, sticklers to the rules, and everything else in between. 

Most of the book is hilarious, although there are some perilous moments when it looks like some of the produce is done for. I mean why would you willingly enter a freezer when you know you will get spoiled if you don't get out quickly? The idiots! There's a military section to try and keep order in the chaos that started when Tammy the tomato wants more from life. Not everything that happened was her fault, and she was pretty instrumental in setting things right, but her dreams instigated everything. While this included chaos, Tammy also helped form a sense of community, even with the fruit and veg who didn't like mixing with other species.

I actually quite liked the names of fruit and veg starting with whatever letter their item began with: while it can sometimes be overused in children's fiction it helped make it easier to remember which fruit or veg each character was: there are only a few type of fruit and veg for each letter that are used in the story. The illustrations elevate the fun of the engaging story, are super cute to see and I looked forward to each one: they are on most pages, not quite every page. If only they could be in colour...

I've emailed Symone a few times (which has not influenced the grade of this review - it really is an awesome read!) and I'm certain her hopes include readers being willing to try out new fruit and veg because they like the characters of them. Quite often if you haven't liked the taste of a fruit or veg you simply need to have it cooked in a different way, like being roasted or in a stir fry. I say quite often instead of always because no matter how they are cooked I detest parsnips and marrow. 

I like almost all other veg, which can easily be combined in soups and stirfries for quick and easy meals, blitzed in a blender with fruit to disguise the flavour (no I haven't tried this method with parsnips: I don't want to either! Eat enough other veg that I can skip this one). It took me years to like pear and plums which I hated when I was a child. Current favourites include avocado, and a variety of berries. Oh & grapefruit ^u^ 

Find out more about the story on Symone's website

Suggested read 

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