Review for Fussy Freda

Review for Fussy Freda

Meet Fussy Freda, a girl who doesn’t want to eat ANYTHING and thinks everything is YUCK.

A book with a very relatable theme, kids who won’t eat. Because maybe it is coloured green? Or maybe it just looks funny? Kids will think of the weirdest reasons not to eat something. So I was quite eager to try out this book, would the parents (or family or friends) get Freda to eat? Would they find something she liked? And what kid doesn’t like pizza or spaghetti?

We see the parents try their hardest to get Freda to eat. From pancakes to spaghetti to vegetables and fruits, but Freda says YUCK and tells us in delightful rhyme why she ISN’T HAVING ANY OF IT (sorry, caps are definitely necessary).

I felt sorry for the parents (and later other people), and I did grow a bit tired of Freda. Girl, I understand that you don’t want food, but you need it. At least give it a try, maybe you will actually like it.

As time seemed to go by, and we see the parents grow exasperated I was kind of curious if she would eat things, or would she just starve by the end (hey, it is a children’s book, some authors don’t shy away from darker themes). Instead we get some magical thing happening and then poof fixed. Which is also why I am rating this book low. I don’t want magic, I wanted to see Freda change with an everyday event. By having her try one of the foods, or her finding that one food she loves and then growing to like others as well.

The art was pretty fun/nice/cute, props to the Super Mario illustration.

But all in all, the magic ruined it for me. If that wasn’t there, 4 out of 5 stars for this book. Because it was fun, because it was colourful, because kids do this (the whole not eating for weird reasons).

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