This is my first book review so I thought I would structure it in a comprehensive, short and snappy way that I could use again in the future: what the book is about, what I particularly liked about the book, what I disliked about the book and a short round up of the review. So here we go for the review of The 7 Secrets of Raising Happy Eaters, by Karen Le Billon. Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts and/or any questions you may have.
What is the book about?
Karen Le Billon moved to France with two young picky eaters. As she explains in her first book, French Kids Eat Everything, within one year they became happy eaters, eating and loving a huge range of foods, including beet salad, broccoli and mussels… but how can you do the same in your own home?… This is what Karen writes about in her new book: The 7 secrets of raising happy eaters, a very hands-on and practical manual to teach your children to like healthy food through her 7 pillars/secrets and taste training.
What did I particularly like about the book?
There are plenty of things that I liked about the book so I had to list my top three. First things first, it is based on evidence, research and written in collaboration with test families. Secondly, the tone is really encouraging and motivating. Finally it is a really hands-on practical book packed with worksheets, games, tips, recipes, anecdotes etc…
In addition, I have randomly picked a recipe out of the book that I did not know before and I made it for one of our family dinner this week: Mollie’s Enchanted Broccoli Rainforest, in homage to Mollie Katzen, author of The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest
What did I dislike about the book?
I have really enjoyed reading this book so it is quite hard for me to say.
At first I thought wow a 400-page book, it looks a bit daunting but actually almost half of it is made of great recipes and notes to support all the facts in the book, so the book in itself is only around 200 pages, which is great.
The only real criticism I could make will actually sound a bit cheesy: it’s somehow missing some of the love aspect. Of course Karen outlines the importance we have as role models through what we eat and she does mention love itself in her “mindful eating” section but to me this should be given more importance, I would maybe call it the “hidden” eighth secret: love your food/be a foodie and your children will love it too/will be foodies :-) Don’t think of food as a mean/fuel but as an end/a pleasure in itself and focus on transmitting that love of food to your children. My mum’s dishes were not always the best in the world but what she cooked was made with love and so we would eat it…
Rounding up the review
All in all if I had to give a mark I would say 8.5/10. The 7 Secrets of Raising Happy Eaters book does exactly what is says on the tin and the amount of work that went into this book is impressive. I would definitely recommend it to any parents, whether they have picky eaters or are simply interested in food education.
PS: As you know I run an affiliate program with Amazon UK. A copy of this book has been offered to me for the review but I haven’t been paid for the review and all the opinions here, as on the rest of this blog, are my own.
This looks like a great book. I am going to pass it on to my sister-in-law who expecting.
Thank you :-) A great present indeed!
I hadn’t heard of this book, but it does sound like something I;d enjoy reading and I like the fact there are recipes in it too. I’ll definitely look out for it!
I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts on it :-)
I’ve been lucky that, bar a few incidents here and there, Izzy is happy to eat pretty much anything that’s put in front of her. This looks like it would be a really useful book for any parent that is struggling with their kids and food!
Yes indeed. Congratulations on your happy eater :-)
I enjoyed the first book, so I definitely want to read this one. A lot of it is hard to implement here as you don’t have the all round backing of the message from school and family, but I did get some good ideas from it.
I understand what you mean… I take my little ones to playgroups where they offer snacks, whilst I’d like them to stick to only one snack a day at 4pm. I personally see this as socializing and concentrate on what happens at home.
I’d love to borrow this book from you Helene… my boys are pretty good eaters but it’d be great to get some pointers about how you can change their thinking towards what they’re eating as this is the biggest sticking point!
Sure Katie. I’ll take it with me next time we see each other :-)
I’m sure I did everything properly and still ended up with one very fussy eater…. who is finally coming out the other side aged 16! My advice….never give up. I would definitely have bought this book if it had come out when my two were little!
Wow 16 years, you are a super mum!!! Congratulations and thank you for sharing your experience :-)
Not heard of this book before but I did hear about the first book she wrote. I have a very no nonsense approach to feeding my girls. I used the Gina Ford book to wean them and adapted that with a little Annabel Karmel and my mother’s teachings. as you say I think we need to show as parents that we enjoy food and children will too. We never eat anything WE don’t like so or have to eat so never say “oh i wish i didn’t have to eat this boring salad” type thing. We also give them three attempts at a new thing. ie. They have to try it three times. If they still don’t like it then we accept that their tastes are different. I might actually buy this book for a friend who is expecting because she’s terrible with food and I think it might help her think things through now while she still is on maternity leave!
Thank you for your comment! Mother’s teachings are always so helpful as well… It could be a really nice present for your friend indeed!
Great review. This is my favourite baby food book by far. It definitely helped me branch out and as such, my son is a very adventurous eater. I recommend this one to everyone!