A boy sets out for vegetables and gets an earful from a garden of anthropomorphic edible plants in funny, informational picture book There's No Such Thing as Vegetables by Newbery Honor medalist and National Book Award finalist Kyle Lukoff (Too Bright to See), illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi (Crab Cake: Turning the Tide Together).
Chester, an East Asian child, heads to the community garden for vegetables to make salad, but when he tries to pick a cauliflower, the cartoon-faced brassica says, "Sorry, pal, can't help you." A friendly carrot and a multi-headed stalk of Brussels sprouts also tell him they're not vegetables, at which point a confused Chester asks, "You're all vegetables, right?" The chatty garden denizens give him the lowdown: vegetables don't exist. Broccoli ("My name is Juanita, not Broccoli") is a flower; Potato ("My name is pronounced Pietro") is a root; and a dancing group of mixed "vegetables" turn out to be fruits. The various produce pieces explain they are each plant parts with specific jobs, and they point out that money and geographic boundaries are also made-up concepts. Chester leaves the garden with plans for a sandwich lunch instead.
Tsurumi's pencil-drawn, digitally colored characters add buoyant humor to Lukoff's sly, kid-friendly demonstration of social constructs and plant biology factoids. The emotive garden flora is as rich in opinions as in nutrients. Young readers will likely giggle at their sass, which makes the educational components more palatable, just as the perfect dressing elevates a salad. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager, Allen County Public Library