Ask Lorna - Telegraph Q Most picture books about children who are fussy eaters seem to reinforce bad habits, rather than challenge them. I'm thinking of books like Lauren Child's I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato (Orchard, £6.99). Could you recommend something more constructive for me to read to my picky four-year-old son? Elena, London A The most familiar food fad books for toddlers are undoubtedly the Charlie and Lola book you mention and Kes Gray's Eat Your Peas (Red Fox, £5.99), both of which empathise unashamedly with the picky child. Lola does soften a little at the end of her story and tries a bit of moonsquirter (Charlie's name for tomatoes), but Daisy is unrelenting in her hatred of peas, instead getting her mother to confess to her own bête noir: Brussels sprouts. Both of these grate pretty quickly on the ears of some parents - and both can give rise to copy-cat behaviour that will exasperate the most patient of us. The antics of the obstinate Daisy have left a trail of children across the country - or perhaps this is just in my house - all too familiar with the word "yuk," one of her favourite utterances. Be reassured that there are lots of more "suitable" stories about food - though this column's view is that children's books shouldn't fuss too much about cause and effect, or five-a-day dietary imperatives. Love of reading must be the goal. Susan Chandler's Vegetable Glue (Meadowside, £4.99) is a delightful rhyming tale about a girl whose failure to eat her vegetables leads to parts of her body falling off, including her bottom. There's Jody's Beans (Walker, £3.99) by Malachy Doyle, about a girl and her grandfather who grow and eat a crop of runner beans, doused in butter. Dr Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham (HarperCollins, £4.99) is one of his most memorable, as good for toddlers as for children starting to read by themselves. And, for the smallest child, what about Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Puffin, £5.99), with its unforgettable holes, its neat lesson in natural history - and its message that a nice green leaf will settle the most overindulged of tummies? The last word should go to Russell Hoban, who died last month, and whose Bread and Jam for Frances (HarperCollins America) is an absolute treasure: delightfully whimsical, and unfailingly mouth-watering. It used to be one of my daughter's favourites and I'd be ravenous by the time I'd finished bedtime. It's one of a series of books about a family of badgers, beautifully illustrated by Hoban's first wife, Lillian. The sweetly disingenuous parents in the story are oddly inspiring, but the starring role goes to Frances's schoolfriend Albert who, while Frances eats her usual meals of bread and jam, opens up packages containing an exquisite array of foods, which he eats as if at a banquet. It's not currently in print, but copies are around on the internet and in many libraries. Surely now is the right time to bring it and the rest of the series back into wider circulation. What's new? Lane Smith's It's a Book (Macmillan, £10.99) sticks two fingers up to the digital future - and will be enjoyed as much by parents as by the under-fives. A donkey has a laptop; an ape a book. "Do you blog with it?" asks the donkey. Can it text? Tweet? Wi-Fi? Suffice it to say, it's the donkey that looks foolish and the ape that comes out on top. There are some good jokes here, too. Please post your questions about children's books below this column, or email them to asklorna@telegraph.co.uk. Buy all these children's books at the Telegraph Bookshop