Charlie and Lola are the main characters from a series of books for young children written by Lauren Child. Charlie is about 7 years old and his little sister Lola about 4.

Lola is funny and very independent. Charlie is the sensible one and looks after Lola. I will not ever never eat a tomato was the first book to be published in the Charlie and Lola series and was first published in 2001. The series now includes several other titles dealing with a variety of children’s issues such as going to bed, winning and pet owning. There are also Charlie and Lola colouring and activity books available.

The story.
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Charlie narrates all the Charlie and Lola books. He has to keep an eye on Lola because she is small. In this book Charlie has to give Lola her dinner and as she is a very fussy eater this is not easy. Lola doesn’t want to eat anything. She thinks carrots are for rabbits and peas are far too small and green to eat. In fact Lola won’t eat anything at all!

Charlie decides to use his imagination to encourage Lola to eat by re defining all her food. Carrots become orange twisters from Jupiter and peas green drops from Greenland. Mashed potatoes are now cloud fluff from mount Fuji. Fish fingers are no longer Fish fingers but ocean nibbles from the supermarket under the sea, the mermaids favourite! Towards the end of the book Lola asks Charlie to pass her a tomato. Lola has declared that she will never ever eat a tomato, not ever! Charlie can’t believe what she is asking for and asks if she is sure she wants a tomato. Lola replies that they are monsquirters, her favourite food. Surely Charlie knew that and didn’t think they were tomatoes did he?

The illustrations in this book are a delight. I love the way Lauren Child combines line drawings with actual photographs. My 5 year old particularly likes the page where Lola lists all the food she won’t eat. There are drawings of all the different foods with the text underneath. This is great to encourage reading. I like the bright colours used too and find the whole book a real pleasure to read.

The author.
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Lauren Child was born in 1967 and grew up in Wiltshire. Both of her parents were teachers ,her father teaching art. Lauren studied at the London school of art although didn’t enjoy the course much. Lauren has 2 sisters and always wanted a brother, one reason why she created Charlie.
The character of Lola is based on a little girl Lauren Child met on a train in Denmark.


Charlie and Lola were launched in the autumn of 2005 on cbeebies, although we still prefer the books! There is a Charlie and Lola website at www.charlieandlola.com, where you will find games and information.

My thoughts.
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I love reading all the Charlie and Lola books and I think this one is my favourite. I love the way the book is narrated by Charlie. There are no adults in the story and this adds to its appeal for children.

The story deals with the common issue of fussy eaters. My son can be a fussy eater and can really relate to the story. We often pretend his food is something magical and have thought up all sorts of our own ideas! The story is not to long with 30 pages. Each page is beautifully illustrated. The text is presented in a variety of ways for example curled around the illustration on one page, and to the side on another.

This book is widely available from most booksellers and of course Amazon. I paid £5.99 in Waterstones but have seen it for less. The ISBN number is-1-84121-602-x.

I highly recommend this book !