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Both Disgusting and Delicious: Compare 2 Yummy Board Books

Sam is officially two years old! I don't know if I can believe it. In some ways the time seems longer and in others I feel like he was just born yesterday. Our whole family loves this kiddo with all our hearts and he loves us back.


Our local library is running the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program. Is yours? When I attempted the program with Jubilee a few years back, I got discouraged and off-track. I would fill up a reading log for her, but not have the next one ready to go. I learned from that experience (growth mindset!) and decided to try the program again with Sam. I asked the librarians to give me multiple reading logs at a time, so that I could tape them all to my walls (next to the bookshelf) and just keep the log running, even when we had to peel one down to return it to the library (and it ended up lingering in my bag for a while before it got turned into a prize.)

Well, Sam loves to read and not only did he read 1000 books before kindergarten; he read 1000 books before age 2. I read a lot with my kids but I didn't know we were that good!

In celebration of Sam's second birthday, and his increasing discernment between edible and non-edible objects, here is a comparison of two board books on the subject. Spoiler: We love them both!
 




Yum Yummy Yuck by Cree Lane + Amanda Jane Jones - The title of this one makes it certain to be compared to Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli. Both books are super cute, and they're quite different. 

Both books take you through a pattern. In Yum Yummy Yuck, two delicious foods (usually fruits and veggies) are presented, then the authors bring up one non-edible item that babies like to stick in their mouths, like bandaids, soap*, and crayons. The words follow the title closely, "Yum. Yummy." until the "Yuck" section. Then you get commentary on what the item is actually for, since it shouldn't be eaten. The surprise deviation from the pattern in the middle of the book is my children's favorite part, and they all chime in on the big OoOoo!


Yummy Yucky's pattern is to compare one food and one non-edible on each two page spread. The items compared usually have similar sounding names. "____ is yummy. ____ is yucky." Levi (my 9 year old) absolutely loves the page "Burgers are yummy. Boogers are yucky." and quotes it all the time.

In Yum Yummy Yuck there are more words.  I would say Yummy Yucky is better for emerging readers, and Yum Yummy Yuck is better for vocabulary building. It's aimed a smidge more at the adults who are presumably reading it to the child; it contains humourous, higher vocabulary phrases like "If you try to eat sand, you'll immediately regret it."

In both books the illustrations are top notch. Yum Yummy Yuck, illustrations are graphic and spare -- just the item in question. This does cause a disagreement for us on one page, when Levi joins in my reading to Sam. We all agree that the strawberry is a strawberry, but is that one illustration a corn cob or a pea pod? Colors are not necessarily true to life in this book, so that each set of three can match in color. It makes the book beautiful. And it gives us a chance to talk about how both peas and corn are yummy. In Yummy Yucky, illustrations also include a child interacting with the items. This really tickles the funny bone for my older kids.


Yum Yummy Yuck has matte pages, and Yummy Yucky has slick pages. The matte pages do match the look and feel of the modern board book, but I confess that I worry more about the book getting dirty and not coming clean. We treat our books pretty rough around here.

We've liked Yum Yummy Yuck so well over the last few months that I nominated it for the Cybils awards (I got a free copy, for review). Yummy Yucky we don't own, but I would own it.





*Benjamin was always trying to eat soap and lotion!

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