How Martha Saved her Parents from Green Beans by D. LaRochelle

LaRochelle, David. How Martha Saved her Parents from Green Beans. Illus. Mark Fearing. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2013. Print.This imaginative picture book is a tale that will delight picky eaters and those who live with them. Written in LaRochelle’s signature dramatic hyperbole, this 2014 Minnesota Book Award finalist puts a humorous and absurd twist on the classic ‘eat your vegetables’ dinner time conflict.Despite parental encouragement to eat her beans, Martha knows, “Green beans are bad. Very bad.” She is proved correct when a rogue band of mean green beans swagger into town. They chase old ladies, throw rotten tomatoes, make rude noises and kidnap Martha’s parents. Initially Martha is thrilled. She throws her plate of cold green beans out the window and settles in for a late night of cookies and movies. By morning, however, she misses her parents. When Martha discovers them tied up and surrounded by laughing, dancing villainous beans, she is forced to confront her worst nightmare: Is she “too much of a coward to eat a green bean”?This story is hilariously illustrated by Mark Fearing. The expressive faces of Martha, her parents, those dreaded green beans and even Martha’s dog provide eloquent parallels to the text. While parents may appreciate a conclusion in which the family enjoys alternative vegetables, vegetable haters everywhere will appreciate LaRochelle’s provocative conclusion: “Everyone knows that there is nothing bad about a nice leafy salad.” This boldly illustrated adventure will make an entertaining addition to any public, school or personal library serving young children.Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Shelagh K. GenuisShelagh K. Genuis is an Alberta Innovates–Health Solutions Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health. Although an avid reader of biography, she has never stopped reading children’s fiction