Once upon a bite…
Clementine the cow reading a book and eating a burrito in a striped armchair

Books & Burritos

Stories for your imagination. Burritos for your belly.

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Chapter One

Story time at the barn

A girl reads to cows, pigs, sheep, a horse, a goose and a spider in front of a red barn

Every evening, the animals gather around the barn door. The pigs scoot up front, the sheep fluff themselves just so, and somewhere above, a little spider listens from her web. Tonight's book? Charlotte's Web, of course.

Reading grows our imaginations. And imagination might be the most important skill in the whole wide world — because when we can imagine, we realize we have the power to picture what the future should look like.

First we imagine it. Then we build it.

Charlotte's Web

E. B. White

Author
E. B. White
First published
1952
Copies sold
45+ million copies
About the author
White kept a real barn in Maine and watched a gray spider spin her egg sac before he wrote a word.
Notable
White also co-wrote The Elements of Style, the grammar book on half the world's desks.

Chapter Two

A warning in the pages

Not every book is a cozy barn. Some books are a flashlight in a dark hallway.

Nineteen Eighty-Four shows us what the world could become if we stop paying close attention — if we forget to honor our true natures and let someone else do our imagining for us.

Books like this help us notice when the world starts drifting toward a place that neglects the power of imagination. Spotting the warning sign is the first step to choosing a different ending.

Keep your eyes open. Keep your imagination louder.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell

Author
George Orwell
First published
1949
Copies sold
30+ million copies
About the author
"George Orwell" was a pen name. He was born Eric Arthur Blair.
Notable
Written on the remote Scottish island of Jura while Orwell was gravely ill with tuberculosis.

Chapter Three

Books help us…

…remember to be weird.

The Phantom Tollbooth

Norton Juster

The Phantom Tollbooth

Norton Juster, 1961

Author
Norton Juster
First published
1961
Copies sold
5+ million copies
About the author
Juster was an architect. His downstairs neighbor, Jules Feiffer, drew the illustrations.
Notable
Early skeptics said the wordplay was far too sophisticated for children. Children disagreed.

…dream without limits.

James and the Giant Peach

Roald Dahl

James and the Giant Peach

Roald Dahl, 1961

Author
Roald Dahl
First published
1961
Copies sold
Millions worldwide
About the author
Before writing for kids, Dahl was a WWII fighter pilot and a British spy.
Notable
Dahl's first full-length children's book. It was published in America before Britain.

…have fun!

Green Eggs and Ham

Dr. Seuss

Green Eggs and Ham

Dr. Seuss, 1960

Author
Dr. Seuss
First published
1960
Copies sold
8+ million copies
About the author
Theodor Geisel added the "Dr." himself. He never finished his doctorate.
Notable
Written on a $50 bet that he couldn't write a book using only 50 different words. He won.

…see the world.

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho, 1988

Author
Paulo Coelho
First published
1988
Copies sold
65+ million copies
About the author
Coelho was a songwriter for Brazilian rock legend Raul Seixas before becoming a novelist.
Notable
Its first publisher printed 900 copies and dropped it. It became one of the most translated books by a living author.
♪♫A bearded poet strumming an acoustic guitar

Chapter Four

Sometimes books sing

Sometimes books teach us about music and poetry — the way words can bounce, rhyme, and strum right off the page.

A Light in the Attic

Shel Silverstein

…find the music in words.

Author
Shel Silverstein
First published
1981
Copies sold
Millions; 182 weeks on the bestseller list
About the author
Silverstein wrote "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash, which won a Grammy.
Notable
Spent 182 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was also challenged in some school libraries.

Chapter Five

About the only thing books can't do is fill your belly.

A hungry kid reading a book and rubbing his rumbling belly

grrrrumble…

I bet you never considered there's no better food to eat while reading than a burrito.

Chapter Six

Meet the characters behind the characters

A good story needs good ingredients. Every tomato, pepper and avocado comes from local farms, organically grown. And every animal? You can see exactly where they live and how comfy they are.

Chickens and pigs roam free beside rows of organic tomatoes, peppers, corn and avocado trees
The neighborhood.
Chickens wander, pigs root, tomatoes ripen in actual sunshine. Nobody here has ever seen a cage.
Clementine the dairy cow being brushed by a farmer in a flowery pasture
Meet Clementine.
She makes the milk for our cheese. She gets daily brushings, a meadow full of flowers, and (we're told) a weakness for audiobooks.

Frequently Asked Questions

How big is it?+

Big enough for a hungry adult, or two whole meals for a pre-teen. Every burrito is cut in half and each half is wrapped separately, so it's easy to save one for later or share with a fellow burrito lover.

Do I have to read the book while I eat?+

Not required, but strongly encouraged. Side effects may include salsa on page 47. We consider that a bookmark.

Can I eat the book?+

Please don't. The book is for your brain, the burrito is for your belly. Mixing them up is how plot holes happen.

Wait, I can really pick more than one protagonist?+

Yes! Beef, chicken and vegetables can all star in the same story. It's an ensemble cast, and everyone gets their name on the poster.

Is the avocado really free?+

Really, truly free. We think good fats and good books should never come with a surcharge.