Pistes d'exploration

As you read, predict the food that each new animal will eat. Confirm your predictions as the book continues.

Create a list of the rhyming words.

Talk about how we all like to eat different things. Make a class chart of favourite foods and determine how many different favourites there are.

Make a story map to show where the frog went hunting for food.

As you read, predict the food that each new animal will eat. Make your predictions reasonable and confirm them as the book continues.

Practise echo reading the story, repeating each sentence or two after the reader. Use different voices for different animals.

Draw a story map to show where the frog searched for food and what kinds of food he found. 

Write a paragraph in the style of the book, expressing what you would or would not like to eat.

I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, Bread and Jam for Frances

Mots-clés

Picture book , eating habits , food , frogs , preferences , stories in rhyme

Commentaire descriptif

Rhyming language offers rich details of Bradley McGogg’s idyllic life on his “log in a bog.” But when he’s forced to borrow food, things go awry. First there’s Miss Mousie’s cheese: “Cheddar with chives and a peppercorn dusting! He had never seen anything quite so disgusting.” The bear, bunny and cow all enjoy equally inedible fare (honey, carrots and clover). Children will enjoy Bradley’s excuses for not eating and will likely have their own food stories to share. Rich colour and detail characterize the skillfully painted illustrations. Realistic animals wear whimsical outfits: Bradley sports a striped jumper and over-sized necktie. The bunny wears a red coat with tails. A sombre watercolour forest reflects Bradley’s gloom as he tramps back home, tie drooping, food bucket empty. Luckily, a swarm of bugs have infested Bradley’s home while he was away: they crawl among his dishes; they creep from under his rug. “He sat down to dinner and feasted on pailsof maggots, mosquitoes, grasshoppers and snails. . . .” In both image and language, young readers will relish the yucky details that ensue and will doubtless agree when Bradley says, “Holy smokes! Other folks eat some pretty strange things.”