- Comedy
- The Food Group collection
- Ages 4–8
The Food Group
Part of the collectionThe Food Group→Best for children who like funny character-led picture books that make feelings and behaviour easy to talk about.
- Books8 / 8
- Arcs2
- Span2017–2025
- StatusOngoing
The series
At a glance.
The Food Group is a picture-book series written by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald. Each book personifies a food item and gives it an emotional or behavioural challenge: being labelled bad, trying too hard to be good, wanting to be cool, spending too long on the sofa, feeling not smart enough, holding grudges, needing to win, or learning humility. The books are issue-led in the best commercial sense: the message is obvious enough for families and classrooms, but the jokes, expressive art and food-character absurdity keep them from feeling like worksheets.
Best for children who like funny character-led picture books that make feelings and behaviour easy to talk about.
Primary themes
Overall tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Warm
- Heartwarming
The books can be read in any order. Choose by theme: behaviour change, perfectionism, fitting in, screen habits, confidence, forgiveness, ambition or humility.
Two arcs
A series that changes as it goes.
- IThematic arcLow sensitivity
Self-image and finding balance
Books about being labelled, trying too hard, fitting in and discovering your own kind of clever.
This arc gathers the Food Group books most directly about self-image. The Bad Seed is about being seen as bad and deciding change is possible; The Good Egg is about perfectionism and the pressure of trying to hold everything together; The Cool Bean deals with friendship, status and feeling left behind; and The Smart Cookie speaks to children who feel less capable than others until they find their own form of creativity. These are low-sensitivity stories with strong emotional usefulness for children who are negotiating identity, behaviour labels and confidence.
- IIThematic arcLow sensitivity
Habits, grudges and humility
Books about screen habits, forgiveness, wanting to win and learning to accept yourself without showing off.
This arc gathers the more behaviour-and-social-skills-led Food Group books. The Couch Potato offers a very accessible way to talk about screens, comfort and getting outside. The Sour Grape handles resentment and forgiveness. The Big Cheese looks at ambition, attention and fairness, while The Humble Pie gives children a comic route into humility, confidence and not needing to be the loudest person in the room. The stories are low sensitivity and highly parent-friendly because they give adults a shared character language for everyday behaviour without sounding punitive.
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 4–8
- Read aloud · 4–8
- Independent · 6–8
Reluctant-reader friendliness
High
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Adult crossover
High
Grows with the reader
Not especially
Sensitivity envelope
Low overall, and consistent.
Per-arc breakdown
Where it sits
In conversation with other series.
Similar in feel
Different shelves, same wavelength.
Read this after…
Series that pick up where The Food Group leaves off.
About the author