Rochelle Humes tells Chris Evans how to get kids to eat with book My Little Dragon and loving being the 'underdog'

Virgin Radio

18 Nov 2022, 13:23

Presenter, singer and children’s author Rochelle Humes joined The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about putting the fun back into food for fussy eaters with her latest book My Little Dragon.

The multi-talented businesswoman told Chris about her third children's picture book: “It all stemmed from me trying to basically put the magic back into mealtimes. We all go through that time as parents when we think we've sussed it, we think we know what they want to eat and then they decide they don't eat it anymore. Someone like Peppa Pig will say it's yucky, which is very helpful," she joked.

"So I wanted to bring the magic back into mealtimes for kids and for little ones when they're discovering picture books, but also for parents to say, this is what happens when you eat that, it's all very exciting and trying things is good. I say to my kids, if you've tried it and you genuinely don't like it, I won't give it to you but until you give it a go, you can't tell me you don't like it.”

On penning her third children's book during lockdown, she said: “We literally moved in that week and I was like, Okay, I'm gonna get everyone settled, make a roast dinner, everything is still in boxes, but I'm just going to try and make this as normal as possible. I was pouring everyone's gravy on, serving up the plates, and [middle daughter, Valentina] she freaked out and said, Whoa, what are you doing? I don't want gravy. I said, You have gravy every Sunday. She said, no, that was at the old house. So I was on the phone to my publishers and we were discussing new books and I said, I'm doing something around food because this is what I'm dealing with at the minute. She eats gravy now because she's five, so we're back. 

Championing the importance of giving new talent a chance, she said about her graduate illustrator Rachel Suzanne: "When I was writing my first book I got pitched loads of different illustrators and some of them had been in the game for so long, but Rachel was literally just out of college. She was very young and she didn't have this elaborate CV like the people they wanted me to go with.

"I’m always a believer if you don't give someone their first break and we keep using the same people, then how does it happen? But actually, she's on the money.

"My eldest daughter wanted to change her gorgeous curly hair for straight hair so it was really important to me that she understood how her hair should look and she's brilliant. She understands me, she's actually done a lot of illustration on my children's brand and she's done that too. I'm so pleased we've got such a nice partnership."

Talking about being underestimated in some professional work places, she said: “I like being the underdog because, at first, I didn't really get taken seriously when I walked into some rooms. I never take that as a negative. I'm like, bring it on. Here we go.”

Rochelle's latest children’s picture book My Little Dragon is out now.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or  catch up on-demand here.