How Are You Peeling?: Foods with Moods

Photos of scowling oranges and gregarious scallions garnish this garden of delights from the creators of Play with Your Food. The recipe is simple and successful. Freymann and Elffers find a piece of ""expressive produce"" and attach two black-eyed peas for eyes. Without further ado, the veggie becomes a face, with a knobby stem or skinny root for a schnozzola; an upended mushroom has a hilarious piglike snout, while a kiwi fruit has a button nose. The animated groceries are exhibited, actual size or larger, against crisp hues of harvest gold, melon green or late-night-sky blue. Their groupings imply close relationships: lemons trade meaningful glances and a little onion cries. Meanwhile, the rhyming text draws comparisons between the emotive plants and its audience when it queries, ""Wired? Tired? Need a kiss?/ Do you know anyone like this?"" The plotless and largely superfluous narrative recommends expressing jealousy or affection (""When how you feel is understood,/ you have a friend, and that feels good""). It's a sentiment as healthy as an apple a day, but the book's real charm is derived from the almost-ready-made ""sculptures""--as an afterword calls them. This wish-I'd-thought-of-that compendium provides an excellent impetus for a craft session: the ingredients are cheap, and mistakes can be eaten as salad (if artists have the heart). All ages. (Oct.)