Mealtime never looked so horrifying.
Simple steps, nasty names, and sickening setups transform everyday foods into disgusting dishes that will leave diners grossed out but hungry for more.
A blender transforms ingredients including spinach, bananas, and yogurt into Snot Smoothies. Cake pops are transformed into eyeballs, hot dogs become writhing worms, and kale is baked into Charred Zombie-Skin Crisps. Some recipes, such as Big Ol’ Bowl of Snot (lime gelatin with pineapple chunks and raisins) and Cat Litter Cake (crumbled cake with Tootsie Rolls), might make even the heartiest eaters lose their appetites. Others—Creature-in-My-Pot Pie and Mummy Dogs (hotdogs wrapped in refrigerated dough), for instance—are more silly than scary. Disappointingly, calling graham crackers with marshmallows and raspberry jam Used Bandage Delights or burgers topped with rice Maggot Burgers cannot transform easily recognizable ingredients. But these duds are few. Many recipes call for animal products, but tips suggest substituting almond milk for dairy and using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Ingredients are available from most any well-stocked grocery store, and many recipes require little to no cooking, relying on ready-to-eat products. Each recipe includes photographs of well-staged dishes as well as step-by-step instructions that make frightening foods accessible for even young chefs. The occasional children photographed are diverse both racially and in age. Safety tips, substitutions, and ways to personalize the recipes are included in the more than 50 barfworthy recipes.
Mealtime never looked so horrifying. (Nonfiction. 6-12)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5124-4894-8
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Lerner
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.
This follow-up to How To Read a Story (2005) shows a child going through the steps of creating a story, from choosing an idea through sharing with friends.
A young black child lies in a grassy field writing in a journal, working on “Step 1 / Search for an Idea— / a shiny one.” During a walk to the library, various ideas float in colorful thought bubbles, with exclamation points: “playing soccer! / dogs!” Inside the library, less-distinct ideas, expressed as shapes and pictures, with question marks, float about as the writer collects ideas to choose from. The young writer must then choose a setting, a main character, and a problem for that protagonist. Plotting, writing with detail, and revising are described in child-friendly terms and shown visually, in the form of lists and notes on faux pieces of paper. Finally, the writer sits in the same field, in a new season, sharing the story with friends. The illustrations feature the child’s writing and drawing as well as images of imagined events from the book in progress bursting off the page. The child’s main character is an adventurous mermaid who looks just like the child, complete with afro-puff pigtails, representing an affirming message about writing oneself into the world. The child’s family, depicted as black, moves in the background of the setting, which is also populated by a multiracial cast.
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5666-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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