Off to the Market: A Celebration of Markets, Cooking, and Fresh Food
Sunday is market day. We are looking for pumpkin, apples, eggs, and bread. What else will we find? Where did it come from? And what will we make with it?
Learn all about produce in this delightful child's tour of a food market, full of fun facts, delicious new discoveries, and charming characters.
A loving ode to the people who bring food to our table and connection to our community, from acclaimed artist Alice Oehr.
- A gorgeous gift for young children to inspire a lifelong love of food.
- A wonderful resource for educators and librarians to help students build visual and produce literacy, connecting words for a broad array of produce with images of it, and building a sense of curiosity about trying new foods.
- Just right for fans of Louise Elhert's classics Market Day and Eating the Alphabet, and Chris Butterworth and Lucia Gaggiotti's How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?
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Alice Oehr is a multi-award-winning artist from Melbourne. Her distinct colourful style incorporates her love of food, pattern, collage, and drawing. Many of her ideas have made their way onto textiles, homewares, magazines, and books.
"Illustrations are super vibrant with pop-out colors that radiate on the surfaces of the vegetables, fruit, and other food products that we're purchasing ... I loved the story, the characters we meet in the market, and the vibrant illustrations ... I would add this to Let Me Fix You a Plate by Elizabeth Lilly, On the Farm, At the Market by G. Brian Karas and Out Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki."
--Youth Services Book Review
"With list in hand, the trip to the market is a gathering place of colors, textures, flavors, community and connection. With each stop, a conversation connects the farm to table relationship and the unique seasonal abundance. A stunning book with a color palette of delight."
--Jesica Sweedler DeHart, Neill Public Library
"Walk through the steps of shopping in the local Farmer's Market with the narrator and their mother. Lots of labeled illustrations of fresh fruit, veg, bread, eggs, flowers, and herbs."
--Alisa Edwards, Napa Bookmine
"Alice Oehr's beautifully illustrated picture book, Off to the Market, explores a trip to a food market, teaching children about the produce, what can be made with it, as well as the journey to our tables ... introduces fun facts and new discoveries."
--City Kids
"During market season, Sunday is our day to visit our local farmers market and this book makes me long for warmer days at the market. Off to the Market by Alice Oeher is a celebration of markets and fresh food. But also importantly the connections made with the people who produce that food and the community it creates ... The illustrations are fantastic. There is a beautiful, brilliant electric orange color that carries through the book from the market bag on the front cover to the lines that cross off the items on the shopping list to do many more delightful details."
--@ourbookbag
"The most vibrant and fun look at a visit to the farmer's market. Littles will enjoy identifying all the different fruits, veggies, bread, and more as they flip through!"
--@littlecubliteracy
"Off to the Market creates an approachable environment for children to learn just what to do at a market. This is also an excellent resource for learning about different types of fruits and vegetables without an overly moral approach to eating 'good' or 'healthy' food. Instead, the book favors information about flavors, colors, textures and growing conditions: 'sage has a strong flavor that goes well with rich ingredients like pumpkin and butter'. With Oehr's bright illustrations of wholefoods and her depiction of a multicultural community, Off to the Market is one of my favorite children's picture books of the year."
--Clare Millar, Readings
"Off to the Market presents wholesome, natural produce in a positive light and will stimulate children's play as well as encourage them to eat experimentally and well."
--Joy Lawn, Books+Publishing
"This beautiful nonfiction book is a feast of colour, introducing readers to the market experience and homegrown produce in a fun and interesting way."
--Deescribe writing
"With luscious illustrations, Oehr helps children explore farmers' markets and the allure of fresh produce and the community of the market. Oehr includes an approachable array of information about fruits and vegetables, such as flavour pairings, textures and growing conditions."
--The Big Issue
