"How To Feed Your Parents" by Ryan Miller and Hatem Aly (Sterling Children's Books)

Most folk have their own particular passions in life. Some love painting, some love sewing or making things, but I really love cooking...
At least I did before I met my wife, and we had our daughter. But like the little girl in "How to Feed your Parents" by Ryan Miller and Hatem Aly, I really do struggle with feeding the girls at home.

So when C and I read this book, I put myself in the place of the little girl, and Mum / C as the parents here.

The book opens by detailing what Matilda's finicky mum and dad will actually eat. Most parents will be nodding furiously in recognition of some of the things Matilda's folks will happily chow down on.

Elbow pasta (macaroni) with horrid orange packet-mix sauce on it.

Crappy McDonalds Happy Meal burgers.

Pizza with Pepperoni.

Actually at home it's made ten times worse by the fact that we're a family of vegetarians but all have our own particular quirks and favourites when it comes to veg (with neither of the girls liking mushrooms, peppers or spring onions, and me absolutely loathing the site of Aubergines!)

Matilda has a cunning plan to get mum and dad to enjoy the finer foods in life. Not just junk!

Matilda's learning journey as she decides to try out a whole bunch of recipes herself, reminded me of another "Matilda" in children's books, the clever little girl in Roald Dahl's "Matilda" and how she begins her reading journey.

Perhaps that was the inspiration for Ryan, but I think a lot of his clever observations here can only be from directly witnessing such fussy food habits himself. It's brilliantly written and very funny, with superb characterful illustrations from Hatem Aly too.

"This is what's for dinner. If you're hungry you'll eat it, if you aren't you won't" - OH GOD HOW MANY TIMES A WEEK DO I SAY THIS?!?!

Perfect for parents who have fussy little sirs or madams at home, or perhaps if they're fussy themselves realising that there's more to life than microwave ready meals.

C's best bit: When Matilda finally gets her mum and dad to try quiche (which C would never try herself in a zillion years!)

Daddy's favourite bit: A brilliantly observed (sometimes painfully brilliant) take on swapping the roles from fussy kid eaters to fussy parents, to make a whopping solid point about what picky finicky eaters are truly missing out on. I wish this would work on my two though!

"How to Feed Your Parents" by Ryan Miller and Hatem Aly is out now, published by Sterling Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).