'The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What We Eat (Young Readers Edition)' by Michael Pollan

Welcome to the third Bookmark review from SFGate's Student Book Review Project — a collaboration between SFGate, 826 Valencia and local schools. Here, Synergy student Emily Grace Miller gives her take on the young readers edition of Michael Pollan's bestselling investigation into what, how and why we eat.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What We Eat (Young Readers Edition)

By Michael Pollan

(Dial Books for Young Readers; 352 pages; $19.99)
Ages 10 and Up

Do you ever wonder where your food comes from? Do you know exactly what's in your burger? Where the cow it came from lived and died? How the potatoes in your French fries were grown? Reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" will answer these questions and many more, and in the process let you in on some of the industrial food industry's biggest secrets.

"The Omnivore's Dilemma" is a highly interesting and sometimes sickening book. It is also very educational. It teaches you all about food: where food comes from, what's in it, and even why people overeat. For example, did you know that corn is in just about everything? From food to batteries, to aspirin and even fireworks? Another example: author Michael Pollan writes that some possible ingredients in cattle feed are chicken manure, cattle manure, cement dust, hooves, corn, cardboard, feathers, fish meal and candy.

This book also talks about how our food is being made with more and more sugar, and in ever larger servings. Pollan writes, "Since the year 1985, our consumption of all sugars has climbed from 126 pounds per person to 139 pounds per person in 2006." That's a lot of sugar!

I recommend this book to all people interested in food and health. It teaches you the brutal truths behind industrial food production. It teaches you to eat and buy "real" food — what Pollan calls "food your great-grandmother would recognize" — and to shun processed food, or anything with more than five ingredients in it, or with unpronounceable ingredients. It is a book that keeps you interested all the way through. It is educational, surprising and, in the end, very scary.

Calling all Young Adult Readers! Feel free to participate by commenting on these discussion questions.

1. Can reading a book change your life? Can it change the way you eat?

2. What is the most inspiring book you have ever read? What did it change for you?

3. Michael Pollan's book urges readers to "vote with your fork" -- to not buy and eat fast food, sodas and feedlot meat. Can Americans really give up these habits?

Emily Grace Miller is a 7th grade student at the Synergy School in San Francisco.