Wanted!

David LaRochelle was the featured presenter at tonight's Family Reading Night. He shared the process of making It's a Tiger! (which took a total of five years) and read it aloud to the attendees, all of whom willingly roared whenever the word tiger was spoken. He then asked about foods people like and dislike, taking a poll of the attendees before telling about writing his soon-to-be-released book How Martha Saved Her Parents From Green Beans (illustrated by Mark Fearing). Not many people get to hear a book read aloud before its publication date, and this audience was rapt with attention as David read it to them. The children noticed so many things about those fierce green beans: how one was stuck under an overturned bowl, how one looked like a cowboy with a lasso, how a foursome seemed to be dancing to YMCA. The group then contributed to a large WANTED poster which featured a food David loves to eat every day: a banana. They needed no urging to make their own posters. Tomatoes and asparagus were the most negatively wanted foods while strawberries and blueberries were the most loved.