What’s for Lunch?
How Schoolchildren Eat Around the World
by Andrea Curtis
Red Deer Press, 2012
ISBN 978-0-88995-482-3
$12.99, 40 pp, ages 12 – 14
reddeerpress.com
What’s for Lunch? sheds light on the way different cultures around the world prepare and serve food for schoolchildren. As a teacher, I thought this informative text was interesting as the section on each country begins with a story followed by various statistics of that particular country’s food industry. The author includes appealing facts and colourful illustrations of a traditional lunch dish that students might consume on a typical day in that country. The book includes a table of contents for finding specific information as well as a message to parents, teachers and students that deals with the power of food and the important role we all play in the international food system. A glossary of food terms completes the book.
Classroom Connections: What’s for Lunch? could really open the eyes of young students in terms of eating habits and lifestyles of children around the world. Asking questions and visualizing are important reading strategies that can be strengthened using this book. The title alone will stir up plenty of questions and discussion that will have your students comparing and contrasting different ways of life.
Review by Joseph Forte.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Apr/May 2014 issue.
