Hot Food: Nice!
by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Neal Layton
Interest age: 3 to 7
Published by Walker Books, 2025
About this book
Young Michael thinks his dad knows everything – he’s constantly impressed by his dad’s apparently unending knowledge about the world. What a bus is, how many wheels it has, etc.
Yet, one day, as the family sit down for dinner, it turns out that Michael’s dad doesn’t know everything. While Michael, his brother and their mum all know to blow on their hot mashed potato before they eat it, Michael’s dad pops a forkful of steaming potato straight into his mouth, and has to spit it out again.
This delightful picture book version of one of Rosen’s most well-known poems is illustrated by award-winning picture book illustrator Neal Layton, whose vision has all the anarchic joy of the poem (the diagram of Mum eating her potato is inspired) and adds brilliantly expressive faces to the family. Layton researched the neighbourhood where Michael Rosen grew up and looked at family photos to get a sense of the family, and the book reflects that authenticity while being fun and delightfully silly.
A lovely book about shared family time, the way that children see their parents when they’re young, and the humour of eating something too hot.
About the author
About the illustrator
More books like this
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I Am Hungry
by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Robert Starling
2 to 7 years
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Chocolate Cake
by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Kevin Waldron
4 to 7 years
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Where Are You, Eddie?
by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Gill Smith
4 to 9 years
-
Out of This World
by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Ed Vere
9 to 11 years
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