Vikings, Snails, & Juice

Last week while jumping from blog to blog, I stumbled upon a woman named Nathalie VanBalen in Nashville who self-published a book called Garlic-Onion-Beet-Spinach-Mango-Carrot-Grapefruit Juice. I clicked through her site and learned that she did all of the illustrations herself and that the plot centered on two vikings that get their kicks by juicing. Of course there's more to the story than that--there's a "think before you eat animals" message. I couldn't resist ordering it.

The book arrived, we read it, we giggled, and then we decided it was one of our favorite books ever. We've been reading it almost every night. We might even try and make the title juice this weekend.

The illustrations are really bold and colorful. The characters, including the vikings, are actually dolls handmade by the author. Although there is one character, Ingvar, that is a finger.


Nathalie's site also includes some coloring pages. I printed them out and Jiro couldn't wait to start coloring. In this picture, you are supposed to draw food for everyone to eat. Jiro "served" grape juice and tater tots.


You can also send in picture of Ingvar (i.e. your finger) enjoying vegan meals. I especially like this one submitted by a Nashville reader:


If you are looking for a fun read, look no further.