food

Salted Fish–A Taste of Singapore

| Tasha

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Salted Fish by Yeo Wei Wei, illustrated by Ye Shufang

Lynn is visiting an art museum for the first time.  She knows that the National Art Gallery will have lots of art inside it.  She and her toy bunny find a painting of fruit and then set out to see if they can find one with strawberries in it.  As they are looking, they smell something strange coming from one of the paintings.  As she counts things in the painting, she and her bunny hear a voice speaking from the painting.  Lynn finds herself drawn into the painting and learning about the way they are making salted fish.  The taste of the salted fish reminds her of her grandmother’s home.  As she leaves the painting with a bundle of fish to take with her, she promises to return to the art museum again.

The story here is told with a quiet, gentle voice.  Lynn’s interaction with the painting is not frightening at all, but an enthralling moment of connection.   It is what one hopes a child will experience at an art museum.  The story is built around a famous painting by Cheong Soo Pieng called Drying Salted Fish.  At the end of the book, information on the painting and the artist is shared. 

Shufang’s art is engaging with the bright-eyed child and the strong architectural lines of the building itself.  A muted palette that has pops of bright color at times adds to the quiet appeal of the book. 

This book gives young readers a small taste of Singapore which they will probably appreciate much more than the smell of salted fish!  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from book received from The National Art Gallery, Singapore.

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Just One Bite: A Big Gulp of Fun Science

| Tasha

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Just One Bite by Lola Schaefer, illustrated by Geoff Waring

Explore the world of eleven animals through how much they can eat in one bite.  Filled with fascinating facts, this book offers just enough information in the body of the book to entice readers to read the longer versions in the back.  Readers will marvel at the tiny amount of food a worm eats, the amazing tongue of the giraffe that eases around thorns, and the tremendous size of a whale’s meal.  This is a book that makes science friendly and great fun. 

Cleverly written, this book will appeal to a wide range of ages.  Thanks to the simple text and large bright illustrations, preschoolers will enjoy the book, and older children will also find plenty of depth to keep their interest in the final pages.  Schaefer’s simple text is welcoming and warm, inviting readers to wonder along with her about these creatures and their meals.  Waring’s illustrations are large, expansive and charmingly simple.  His use of bright colored backgrounds make the illustrations really pop.

With its large size, this book will shout to readers to pick it up and take a look.  It is a book that is sure to find its way easily into children’s hands, but it will also be welcome in story times as a great nonfiction pick for reading aloud.  Appropriate for ages 3-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Piglet’s Picnic: Yummy Fun

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Piglet’s Picnic by Jessica Souhami

On a sunny day, Piglet posted a note about a picnic by the river, just bring your favorite food to share.  She headed off to the river with her friend Mouse.  Both carried covered baskets with their favorite foods in them.  Some crows fly up with a bundle, two frogs come with promises of something crunchy.  Dog arrives with a newspaper packet and two sheep bring a knitted bag.  It was then time to open the parcels of food.  But as each is opened with a flap that the reader gets to open, the other animals are disappointed to see what is there.  Luckily they all brought enough for each of them to each their favorite food, the food they brought.

This friendly and fairly predictable story has plenty of toddler appeal.  Small children will enjoy opening the parcels with the flaps as well as the surprise of the final foldout page that shows the entire picnic laid out.  Nicely, different concepts are layered in the book unobtrusively with numbers and addition as new animals arrive.  Souhami’s cut paper illustrations are bright and bold enough to show nicely to a group. 

A simple story perfect for toddler story times or sharing with your own small child.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.

The Good Garden – Informative and Radiant

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The Good Garden by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault

The author of One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference continues to explore the impact of education and funding on poor communities.  Here, she has written a book about a farming family in Honduras who learn techniques that allow them to grow enough food to feed themselves and earn enough money to secure a positive future for the family.  Maria Luz and her family have run out of food so her father must head out of town to find enough work to pay for the seed to plant next year because they will have to consume what they would have saved.  He leaves Maria Luz in charge of the garden while he is gone.  At school, she learns about compost, terrace gardening, and other ways to keep the soil fertile.  When her father returns, he is surprised by her success.  He and Maria Luz work with her teacher to avoid selling their produce to the local coyote and instead sell it themselves at a market and purchase seeds themselves.  Through one man’s efforts to educate, an entire village is transformed.

The author here has taken her subject very seriously, as is appropriate.  The text is lengthy for a picture book, but helps explain the impact of food insecurity around the world.  While this is not a picture book to add to a story time, it will be of value for elementary children who are learning about the world, gardening and food.  It is a book that teaches and informs.  Smith Milway’s text does not shy away from the control of the coyote, the fear of starvation, or the loss of families who leave to live elsewhere.  Her words convey it all with a seriousness and gentleness that is lovely to read.

Daigneault’s illustrations seem to glow with an inner sun.  Her use of colors is dynamic at times and subtle at others.  In all of her pictures, there are flowing lines that help depict the beauty of the Honduran landscape.  The illustrations help bring the text to life, making the book even more appealing.

An important book for children to better understand the world they live in, this book is informative and radiant.  Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Kids Can Press.

You can visit The Good Garden website at: http://www.thegoodgarden.org/ where you can learn, play or help make a difference.

And check out the book trailer:

Also reviewed by:

 

 

 

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Soup Day

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Soup Day by Melissa Iwai

Today is soup day, so a little girl and her mother head to the store through the snowy streets.  There they buy the ingredients for their soup, careful to choose the vegetables with the brightest colors.  They pick out green celery, yellow onions, orange carrots, white mushrooms and more.  Back at home, they wash the vegetables and cut them into little pieces.  The little girl gets to help with a plastic knife and the softer veggies.  After sautéing the vegetables, broth is added and the soup cooks.  The mother and child play together as the smell of soup fills the house.  Finally spices and pasta are added and then they sit down to dinner with Daddy. 

Iwai has captured cooking from a child’s point of view.  The selection of vegetables mentioning their colors is done with a gentle tone, and most children will not notice that colors are being reviewed in that part of the story.  The focus on what the little girl is able to do is charming and affirming for children.  Seeing her pride and involvement is a large part of the story. 

Iwai’s illustrations are done with acrylics and collage and Photoshop.  They mix the textures of textiles with the crispness of photos and the brushstrokes of painting.  The result is a rich blend that makes for engaging illustrations.  The book is printed on nice heavy pages, making it welcoming for toddler hands.

This book is as warm and welcoming as a big bowl of homemade soup.  Add it to your recipe for a great story time or a unit on soup or food.  It would be ideal paired with a version of Stone Soup.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy received from Macmillan.

Pantaloon

| Tasha

Pantaloon by Kathryn Jackson, illustrated by Steven Salerno

A re-illustrated classic Golden Book that was first published in 1951, this book gets a charming new look.  Pantaloon is a dog that loves to eat baked goods.  So when a job opens at his local bakery, Pantaloon thinks he will be perfect for it.  But the baker doesn’t.  He thinks that Pantaloon will eat more than he bakes.  Pantaloon even tries a disguise to get the job, but he’s discovered.  While Pantaloon is in the barber shop getting his hair cut and trying to come up with his next plan, the baker heads out for more sugar.  Unfortunately, he trips over Pantaloon’s bicycle on the way and ends up in bed.  Pantaloon eagerly steps in and ices the cakes and delivers all of the goodies to customers.  What will the baker say when he returns?

Jackson’s text has an old-fashioned feel to it.  It has very nice repeating lines that really tie the piece together.  Pantaloon yearns for baked goods in a series of lines and the goodies at the bakery are listed in a winning way each time they are featured.  Salerno’s illustrations have a retro feel to them, nicely complementing the feel of the text.  His use of bright colors makes the book feel fresh and vibrant.

A very nice read aloud for food or dog story times, this is a retro sugar-rush of a book.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by:

Also check out the images on Steven Salerno’s blog of the old and new versions.

The Sandwich Swap

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The Sandwich Swap by Queen Raina of Jordan and Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Tricia Tusa

Lily and Salma are best friends.  They do a lot of things together very happily.  But one thing they did’t agree on was the sandwiches they had for lunch.  Lily brought peanut butter and jelly on white bread every day.  Salma brought hummus on pita bread every day.  Each girl thought that the other girl must be suffering eating that icky looking sandwich every day.  One day, Lily blurted out what she thought of Salma’s sandwich and then, feeling very angry, Salma told Lily that her sandwich looked gross and smelled bad.  The two girls didn’t play together that day.  Their argument started a larger one in their school and then a food fight!  The next day, they sat together and each offered the other a taste of their sandwich which once again led to the whole school getting involved.

The writing in the book has a delightful rhythm to it, using nicely subtle repetition to underline how similar the girls are even in their differences.  The glimpses of their home life as each girl thinks about how their sandwich is made by loving hands adds a lot to the story as well.  Tusa’s illustrations are done in her signature style with plenty of emotion.  They also have a lovely interplay of white space and color washes that make them eye catching and work well when placed with little text or a page filled with text. 

Highly recommended, this book is ideal to start a discussion of differences in a classroom, especially cultural ones.  I love that the book uses food to bring children together, because it can be such an ambassador for different cultures and even different families in the same culture.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Check out the book trailer below:

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The Cow Loves Cookies

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The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Marcellus Hall

Told in a jaunty rhyme, this book shows life on a farm through a funny, quirky lens.  Farmer feeds each animal every day.  The horse eats hay.  The chickens eat chicken feed.  The geese eat corn.  The pig eats slop.  The dog loves doggie treats.  As each animal is introduced along with the food it eats, the chorus chimes in with “the cow loves cookies.”  Then with each new animal, the previous ones are added to the rhyme, forming a fun, cumulative tale.  In the end, the reader will be pleased to find out exactly how the cow got a taste for cookies. 

This book is made to read aloud with its great rhymes that never grow stale and the wonderful rhythm that is built into them.  Even better, there is that chorus line that children will love to help repeat.  Hall’s illustrations echo the light-hearted tone of the text with their free flowing style and friendliness.  They are also large enough to work well with a group of children.

Add this one to your storytime reads for barnyard books.  Perhaps even concluding the stories with some cookies, you know that the children love cookies!  Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from copy received from McElderry Books.

Cora Cooks Pancit

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Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore, illustrated by Kristi Valiant

Cora always got stuck with the kid jobs when her mother cooks like licking the spoon and drawing in the flour.  So when her older siblings head out of the house, Cora asks her mother to make pancit.  Cora’s mother gives her the red apron that belonged to her grandfather who was a cook.  After washing her hands, Cora gets to help with grownup jobs like shredding chicken, checking the soaking noodles, and stirring the hot pan.  When the family sits down to dinner, Cora is nervous.  Will her pancit taste good?

This is a very warm book with a bustling, busy family.  It really speaks to the relationship of a mother and daughter, the way that traditions and foods are handed down to the next generation, and the pleasure children get from being part of creating and learning.  Gilmore’s text is joyful as it explains Filipino foods and heritage, giving us glimpses of the family history along the way.  Valiant’s art with its warm, deep colors show us a family that is familiar but has its own particular culture. 

A glowingly friendly look at a loving Filipino family, this book will have you hungry for your own family recipes and offers a great venue to discuss everyone’s particular family heritage through food.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Interview with Kristi Valiant at Elizabeth Dulemba’s blog.

Also reviewed by Paper Tigers, The Picnic Basket, Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup, and BookDragon.