Book Review: James Dean’s Pete’s Big Lunch

Posted December 26, 2015 by Kathy Davie in Book Reviews, Children's

I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Source: the library
Book Review: James Dean’s Pete’s Big Lunch

Pete's Big Lunch


by

James Dean


It is part of the Pete the Cat series and is a concept book, humor in Hardcover edition that was published by HarperCollins on February 26, 2013 and has 32 pages.

Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon


Pete’s Big Lunch is part of Dean’s Pete the Cat series in his I Can Read! series of books for very young readers — it’s meant to be read with an adult.

My Take

It’ll be a learning experience for your little one what with Pete wearing that big watch on his wrist(?) with all the hands pointing to twelve.

It’s a practical concept of teaching kids that lunch can mean a sandwich, and the story follows a natural progression of the steps involved in making one. This could be a good learning experience with Mom or Dad helping the little one to make their own sandwich. Just like Pete!

Of course, the choices Pete makes for his sandwich could lead to some fun discussion about what one wants on one’s sandwich — that apple could go to the side for dessert or maybe slices of apple would fit better?

Dean throws in a tidbit about sharing. I think this could have been strengthened up a bit.

On the whole, it’s a practical manual on making lunch and about making choices. Full of possibilities to talk with your child, you can have fun with making up more weird sandwiches, what your child would prefer, what they would want to try, what they can actually make for that sense of achievement.

The Story

Yep, it’s obviously lunchtime. Whatever will Pete do?

The Characters

Pete and a whole lotta food you and your kids can talk about.

The Cover and Title

The cover has a white background with Pete, the mischievous black kitty, sitting in a yellow chair pulled up to a table covered in a blue tablecloth and scattered square crackers. He’s facing a Dagwood-like stack of lunchables, including a big fish!

If the cover is anything to go by, yep, it’s definitely Pete’s Big Lunch!