Packed with vegetable idioms, this is a book with sour feelings and sweet ways to make things better.

Bad Apple is sad no one wants to play with him, so he teams up with Second Banana to give the rest of the fridge a hard time. He has the rest of the food cowering in fear and hiding. Until Good Egg has an idea.

The first thing to keep in mind before opening this book is that it centers on idioms. On purpose. At the end of the book, there's a list of the idioms, what idioms are, and what the idioms used in the book mean. If the book is read without realizing this, it comes across a little awkward at times.

The tale starts off quickly and steers right into Bad Apple's taunting of the other food items. Bad Apple doesn't have any good qualities and slips right into the bully role, showing no mercy. It makes him easy to dislike, and he appears to have no redeeming qualities. Although it's quickly mentioned that he does this because nobody wants to play with him, it would have been helpful to have a page of backstory to give him a splinter of sympathy. In any case, the message of bullying plays out loud and clear, especially Good Egg's solution comes across very kind...if not one-sided. But all of this slides in fine as the idioms play out and bring across the impressions they should. Young readers will pick up on these word plays and enjoy the humor along with them.

The illustrations are bright, bold and bring the food to life. Each one has a distinct personality and is fun to look at. Young listeners are sure to find their favorite food character and want to read the tale again

I received a complimentary copy and found it intriguing enough to want to leave my honest thoughts. ( )