Book Review: HOW MARTHA SAVED HER PARENTS FROM GREEN BEANS by David LaRochelle

 Every Tuesday, Martha’s parents tried to make her eat green beans for dinner, but Martha knew green beans weren’t any good.



She didn’t realize, however, that green beans were downright evil. Not until the day a gang of beady-eyed, moustache-twirling, black-hat-wearing green beans roll into town. The bad beans terrorize the area, tossing rotten tomatoes at teachers and throwing chefs into garbage cans, exacting revenge on all the grown-ups who ever told children to eat their green beans.

When the green beans kidnap Martha’s parents, she’s initially thrilled. No more bedtimes. No more dietary restrictions. No more being told what to do. Ever. But by morning, she misses her parents, and she knows it’s up to her to rescue them. Martha confronts the green beans, and when they won’t release her mom and dad, she stops them the only way she can. She eats every single bean.

With the same smart humor as in THE END and THE BEST PET OF ALL, David LaRochelle explores the problem of picky eaters in a way that will make both children and their parents smile. And Mark Fearing's illustrations were hilarious. I'll never look at green beans in quite the same way again! (Note: As a picture book, this story is obviously geared toward the younger crowd, but the illustrations caught the attention of my 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, who enjoyed the story enough to read it through several times before putting it back on the shelf.)