I know an Old Lady Who Wanted a Salad (2nd ed.) (On Amazon CreateSpace)
I Know an Old Lady Who Wanted a Salad is designed to teach children ages 7-11 about growing a vegetable garden, healthy eating, and sharing with others. Children learn about the garden cycle--planning, preparing the soil, planting, taking care of the plants, harvesting, cooking the food, and sharing it with others, in a fun and playful way.
The book is bilingual, designed to teach English or Spanish
vocabulary about the garden. Based on the song made famous by Burl Ives, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, this story can be sung to the same tune, helping children learn through seeing the pictures, studying the vocabulary, and singing the song. At the end of the book is a list of vegetables, both those in the story and others; numbers, colors, and a dictionary of nouns, verbs, and adjectives from the story, in English and Spanish. Recipes for soup and salad are also included in both languages.
Written by an emeritus professor of education and illustrated by Kelly Hollenbeck, age 15, the drawings in the high desert context make the story vivid for young readers. The story was written to teach children English vocabulary about the vegetable garden at Los Ricos de Abajo Escuela Primaria, a small, rural school near San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The school garden is grown to supplement lunches provided by Feed the Hungry, a non-profit organization that builds kitchens in impoverished schools in and around San Miguel. It also teaches the children to grow their own food. All profits from I Know an Old Lady Who Wanted a Salad benefit Feed the Hungry, which serves over 4000 students each school day. These meals make a big difference in student success.
Growing a garden in schools and in homes is increasingly
important to ensure good nutrition and healthy eating, in the USA and in Central and South America. We had fun at Los Ricos holding up posters of the different vegetables the old lady swallowed each time they were mentioned. It made learning a fun game as we sang the song.
About the Artist: Kelly Hollenbeck
Kelly Hollenbeck is a 15 years old sophomore student at Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis, Oregon. She is in 4th year Spanish and would like to visit San Miguel de Allende in the future. Her favorite classes include literature, math, and science. She is creative and loves to draw and paint using bright colors and technology. In her free time, Kelly likes to go on vacation with her family to the beach. She also has fun playing with her chickens and pet tortoise.