Chew, Chew, Gulp by Lauren Thompson - ADVISABLE

Thompson, Lauren Chew, Chew Gulp, illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2011. $14.99.  PICTURE BOOK.  Everyone loves to eat good food, and the children in this book are no exception.  These unnamed characters swirl mashed potatoes, curl spaghetti, scoop pudding, and loop licorice.  Chew, Chew, Gulp exposes young readers both to new foods as well as new words.  It's not an engrossing story (there is no story), but I feel this book deserves a place on household, classroom, and library shelves because of the different words kids can learn by reading it (words like "prod" and "guzzle").  While maybe it would be better to have these words actually in a story with even more context than a fun picture, it still does a lot of good in a short amount of time.  And that makes it worth the money in my opinion (perhaps even for older students).  Pre-K, EL(K-3), EL, MS – ADVISABLE. Brent Smith, Reading Teacher.