Pistes d'exploration

Discuss your food preferences. Do you like to try lots of different foods or eat the same things again and again? What are the expectations in your family about trying new foods?

Are you more like Frances or Albert in your food preferences? Draw and write to show your connections to one of the characters.

What makes Frances change her mind about eating different foods? Use a graphic organizer to record the factors that influence her.

With a partner, make up a silly song about a food you do not like to eat, in the same style as Frances.

Brainstorm and list the food words you know. Discuss possible categories for sorting them (e.g. food colour; fruits, vegetables, grains; breakfast, lunch, supper, snack; taste preferences).

Of the different lunches prepared for Frances and Albert, which would you prefer? Which have most nutritional value?

What makes Frances change her mind about eating different foods? Use a graphic organizer to record the factors that influence her.

Use store flyers to plan lunch meals for different occasions (school lunch, outdoor picnic, birthday lunch, etc.). Write descriptions in the style of the author.

I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato, Bradley McGogg, the Very Fine Frog

Mots-clés

Picture book , family life , food , open-mindedness , preferences , recurrent language

Commentaire descriptif

At the breakfast table, Frances the badger expresses her dislike of boiled eggs with a little song, “I do not like the way you slide,I do not like your soft inside,” though she heartily tucks into some bread and jam. At school, she trades her more complex lunch for her friend Albert’s jam sandwich. At home, her mother tries to cure her of her finicky tastes by making her nothing but bread and jam for every meal. The monotony wears on Frances, and she eventually bursts into tears when she sees her family eating spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. The next day at school she happily noshes on her gourmet lunch. Soft coloured-pencil illustrations depict family life around the table, Frances skipping rope or heading off to school on the bus. Scenes are simply and warmly rendered. Plentiful text is engaging through repetition, song and step-by-step lists related to meals: “Albert took two napkins from his lunch box. He tucked one napkin under his chin. He spread the other one on his desk like a tablecloth.” When Frances has eaten jam for two days, she sings sadly under her breath: “What I amIs tired of jam.” One of the series on Frances, these stories have stood the test of time. They hold up to repeat readings and lovingly teach lessons of early childhood with a dose of sweet humour.