Yulee and her four friends --- Nick, Pedro, Sally and Martin --- are
taking a trip to her aunt's farm to pick apples and make an apple crisp
for a potluck harvest dinner. Yum! But first, Aunt Sara gives the
friends a tour of the whole farm, where they learn what it means to eat
balanced meals, why eating local food matters and all that goes into
getting food from farm to table. Who knew there was so much to learn
about what we eat? It makes everything taste better!Award-winning author
and illustrator Scot Ritchie uses accessible and entertaining language
and familiar characters from his other books to encourage young children
to make healthy choices about what they eat. Each stop on the farm tour
introduces a basic food group: the field of wheat and oats for grains,
the garden for vegetables, the henhouse for protein, the barn for dairy
and the orchard for fruit. Ritchie's cheerful, busy illustrations invite
children to look closer at the details. This is a terrific book for a
science or health lesson to broaden young children's understanding of
healthy eating and why local food matters. The potluck dinner includes a
multicultural group of neighbors and provides opportunities for
discussions about community involvement. There is an apple crisp recipe
at the end of the story. Also provided are a table of contents and
glossary.