The Independent Pea (Maree Coote, Melbournestyle)

Maree Coote’s love of vegetables, indulged vibrantly in her 2023 picture book Letters for Lunch!, gets another airing in The Independent Pea. This time, it’s an invigorating story about the value of working together as a team, while still celebrating individuality through strength, creativity and determination. When one feisty green pea wants to abandon its peers (or should that be ‘pea-ers’) and ‘go it alone’ in search of fame and success, it takes some convincing from the pod that there’s strength in community and collaboration. But once the message gets through, there’s no stopping this collective pod that knows they can be far more than ‘just a mouthful’ to accompany ‘pasta, roasts and sausages’. Together, the at-first-glance-identical but deep-down-unique-and-special peas create delicious new ‘recipeas’—a few of which are included as easy projects for children (some sound delicious, though chocolate-coated peas may be an acquired taste). Coote’s bold, lively style works well in this picture book, which is more narrative-driven than some in her extensive backlist, and The Independent Pea is filled with extras (search-and-find ant characters, facts about peas and cooking, web-based resources, the recipeas and plenty more pea-based puns), offering bonus value and fun.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Anica Boulanger-Mashberg is a freelance editor and writer, and a bookseller at the Hobart Bookshop. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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