Comic book pits healthy food choices against junk food
Amid the variety of foods, crafts and flowers that makes Reading Terminal a sought after experience in Philly, there is a spot, Miscellanea Libri, which satisfies appetites with the rarest titles, hard to find and never heard of new and used books. My visit to the Reading Terminal seven years ago, led me to one of the most amazing children’s health books ever written.
Published in 1995, by Ron Seaborn, The Children’s Health Food Book came out at a time when none of its kind existed, and it is still relevant today. With most health food books geared towards adults, it was refreshing to find a teaching tool that could potentially change the way we understand food and what we eat, designed with kids in mind. This book is ideal in a time when children (and adults) are still facing the same challenges and complexities with food. This consciousness-raising book makes ignorance an excuse of the past.
Seaborn’s creative use of comics simplifies the beauty and demystifies the ugly in the battle between healthy and unhealthy food choices. Seaborn’s good and evil approach is brought to life with a feud between the health guardians and mucus gang. Exposing the truth behind what we eat and how it affects us. With all due respect, Glass man is the transparent being who takes kids on this journey to explore the world of food. He helps them to transform themselves into glass and decipher what happens when they eat the right and wrong foods.
Your child will come face to face to the meat monster, the sugar demon, the dairy goon, the starch creature and the mucus monster. All “WANTED” for causing numerous ailments and “other crimes against mankind”. That is until they are rescued by the Health Guardians: Fruitarian Fighter, Grain Crusader, Vegetarian Warrior and Seafood Gladiator. And of course, a happy ending where good must prevail!
This book does the talking and teaching for you and has the graphics to drive it home. Arm yourself for questions, comments or even a diet-altering experience, perhaps motivated by the kids themselves. My kids can’t get enough of it! Have you read it? What did you think? Or do you have another favorite food book for kids?
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