Tomatoes on Trial: The Fruit v. Vegetable Showdown

by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Edwin Fotheringham (Illustrator)

Overview

Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? The US Supreme Court takes on the case in this juicy history picture book for kids ages 7 to 10.

In the late 1800s, American produce king John Nix just wanted to sell tomatoes. But when import taxes on popular vegetables impacted his profits, he knew he had to remedy the situation. Nix set out to prove that tomatoes, which have seeds and grow on vines, were clearly fruits. That was the claim Nix argued all the way to the US Supreme Court. With Nix on Team Fruit, and the US government on Team Vegetable, both sides slung definition after definition in an epic, legal food fight. This little-known agriculturally-based story from American history will fascinate young readers and encourage them to take a stand and defend their opinions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781662680533
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	08/12/2025
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.44(w) x 11.25(h) x 0.35(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Lindsay H. Metcalf is a journalist-turned-award-winning author of nonfiction and poetry for children and young adults. She lives in Kansas with her husband and children near the corn, wheat, soybean, and milo farm she grew up on. She is the author of several farm-related titles, including Farmers Unite! and Outdoor Farm, Indoor Farm.

Edwin Fotheringham is the award-winning illustrator of many picture book biographies, including Full of Beans, a NSTA/CBC Best STEM Book and winner of the AFBFA 2020 Book of the Year, Tee Time on the Moon, and Dazzlin’ Dolly. His work has received the Sibert Honor, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor, an Orbis Honor Book, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

"With more puns than a tomato has seeds, this title will have young debaters ready to take on the challenge of 'Fruit or Vegetable?' Full of evidence and rebuttals, the book exposes readers to the arguments on both sides of the issue and by the end, they might find their opinions have changed. No matter the outcome, readers will have learned a great deal about legal reasoning and how to make a convincing argument. Fotheringham’s blotted line and color wash illustrations brim with humor and history, adding to the appeal of this engaging title. By the end, readers will be ripe and ready to make the case for the tomato’s classification one way or another, will have learned some interesting facts, and gained a basic understanding of how to build a logical, fact-based argument. This is a novel piece of nonfiction that is fully entertaining for older elementary students."—School Library Journal

"Metcalf humorously introduces the legal process, describing the proceedings as a “food fight”—a showdown between lawyers on “team vegetable” (the defendants) and “team fruit” (the plaintiffs). Evidence and rebuttals abound, drolly illustrated by Fotheringham in blotted line and color wash... An entertaining, lucid look at the judicial process." —Kirkus Reviews

"Chronicling a produce importer’s nineteenth-century lawsuit that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court—and that's now freshly topical since the case hinged on recently imposed tariffs—Metcalf leverages an amusingly told historical “FOOD FIGHT!” into a model for conducting formal debates of any sort... Fotheringham catches the tongue-in-cheek tone of the narrative with whimsical portraits of stiffly posed period contestants with bristly facial hair and cutaway views of produce thrown down as examples and counterexamples. Fruitful reading."—Booklist

From the Publisher

2025-05-03
An 1893 Supreme Court case established whether a tomato was a fruit or a vegetable.

In 1886, Jon Nix, “the produce king of New York,” thought he’d get rich selling tomatoes from Bermuda until a New York Custom House collector demanded a 10% vegetable tax when his goods arrived at the port. Nix argued that tomatoes were fruits (they have seeds and grow from flowers) and therefore weren’t taxable. The collector wasn’t convinced, and Nix had to pay, so he went to court, hoping to change the law—in particular, the Tariff Act of 1883, which taxed goods from other countries that attempted to compete with homegrown items. Metcalf humorously introduces the legal process, describing the proceedings as a “food fight”—a showdown between lawyers on “team vegetable” (the defendants) and “team fruit” (the plaintiffs). Evidence and rebuttals abound, drolly illustrated by Fotheringham in blotted line and color wash. Playful typefaces for onomatopoeia (“SQUISH!” “WHOMP!”) add emphasis as the major figures seek answers to vexing questions: “What makes edibles vegetable?” Do people eat tomatoes as a meal or a dessert? Metcalf overdoes the food-based puns but includes excellent backmatter to help young debaters learn to develop an argument.

An entertaining, lucid look at the judicial process. (information on the vocabulary used, author’s note, archival photographs, further facts about tomatoes, sources, picture credits)(Informational picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews