Storytime: Pigs Love Potatoes

Pigs Love Potatoes by Anika Denise and illustrated by Christopher Denise is a favorite of my daughter’s, even though it is extremely simple. Momma pig cooks potatoes for a dinner with family and friends. The book begins with the little piggies wanting to eat potatoes for dinner, and they end up helping their mom by peeling the potatoes. As guests arrive, she adds more potatoes to the pot. (Ten, for good measure… This book is as much about counting as it is about food.)

The actual food probably isn’t that appetizing (who eats plain boiled potatoes?), but for some reason it sounds perfect. We read this book at our house nearly every day. Amaya wanted to peel potatoes with me so I gave her some tips and she peeled potatoes all by herself!
The illustrations in Pigs Love Potatoes are super cute and the rhyme is not annoying at all. Bad sing-songy rhyme is a big pet peeve of mine with kids books. This one is short and simple enough to be catchy.

Another reason I like this book is because Amaya doesn’t actually like potatoes that much. Whenever she doesn’t like something I will fall back on her storybook characters’ adventures, “But potatoes are good! The pigs like them!” or “Spongebob goes to the dentist all the time!” I’m not sure it works, but she does look like she’s reconsidering.