Tasty mash-ups

Over on Instagram, I try to join in the fun for #bookmatchmonday hosted by @mrpaynereads and last Monday posted a couple of foodie-wordy mash-ups!

Now, these two books are obviously not the optimum tool for teaching new words correctly, but they are totally top for making language an invitation to play. Both books mess around with words with abandon, splicing food stuffs with animals to happy and hilarious effect.

Don’t Put Your Finger in the Jelly, Nelly! by Nick Sharratt (Scholastic) is as much fun as it sounds. It combines names that rhyme with foods, a hole in each page to poke your finger through (whilst being told not to), and a bunch of delicious creatures (Meringue-utan! Spag-yeti!) Where else would you find the immortal phrase: “Don’t put your finger in the pasta, Jocasta!”

A is for Apricat by Mauro Gatto (Quarto) turns an impressive array of fruits and veg into cute animals. The more unlikely the combo the better here; the easy wins (“Unicorn”, “Dragonfruit”) are perhaps the least funny, the best are the ones that barely work: Zebrussels Sprouts, anyone? The kids were very drawn to it and the mash-ups made them get the giggles straight away and they have sought it out more than a few times.