Review - Feast of Peas

Feast of Peas
by Kashmira Sheth
illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler
Date: 2020
Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Hard-working Jiva might not be the only one anticipating a delicious feast of peas from his garden.

Every morning, Jiva works in his garden until the sun turns as red as a bride's sari. He plants peas and beans, potatoes and tomatoes, eggplants and okra in his vegetable patch. When his friend Ruvji admires his plants Jiva sings,

Plump peas, sweet peas,
Lined- up-in-the-shell peas.
Peas to munch, peas to crunch
A feast of peas for lunch.

But each time Jiva is ready to pick the peas for his feast, they're already gone. What has happened?

From the award-winning author and illustrator team who created Tiger in My Soup, this original story set in India features a deliciously amusing mystery about gardening, anticipation, hard work, and generosity.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Feast of Peas is a story set in India about a farmer who's looking forward to harvesting his peas and having a feast. But someone else also has a taste for peas and keeps stealing them as soon as they're ready to pick. Jiva has to come up with a clever plan to figure out who's stealing his peas before they're all gone!

This is a pretty strong picture book. It features three-fold repetition like many old fairy tales, a little bit of rhyme, and lovely illustrations that capture the essence of the setting.

I'd recommend this to readers looking for something in the fable and fairy tale vein and/or to those who enjoy stories set in India.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Publishing Company for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.83 out of 5