This cookbook for recipes from around the world chooses neither the best foods nor the best recipes, but does include some odd and interesting information about the history of what we eat. Dividing the text into chapters on beverages, grains, soups and starters, main courses, and deserts, the author includes a section on kitchen safety and provides brief information on special ingredients. Braman (Kids Around the World Create. Not reviewed), is a former teacher, who states she has tested the recipes with fourth graders and simplified recipes for young cooks. Maybe, but Baklawa (Egyptian phyllo with ground nuts and coconut) and Injera (Ethiopian flat bread) are not usually considered starter recipes. Some information given is neither safe nor accurate. She suggests cooking bratwurst in a pan over medium heat till lightly brown. Gourmet magazine recommends simmering brats for twenty minutes before grilling, or pan browning. Undercooked sausages are NOT SAFE. Elsewhere, she describes New York egg creams, as `a combination of eggs, cream, chocolate syrup and soda.` Most New Yorkers will tell you egg creams have neither eggs nor cream. The format is distracting for cooks, since the author introduces a type of food, then gives some food history from other times and cultures, lists ingredients for a specific recipe, gives the stepbystep procedure, and then introduces a food from still another culture. Line drawings and photographs appear throughout. Some specialized cooking terms are defined in the glossary. Index was not seen. An additional purchase where multicultural materials are in heavy demand. (Nonfiction 1012)
Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-471-35251-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
Ideal for any community where children count.
A difficult concept is simply and strikingly illustrated for the very youngest members of any community, with a counting exercise to boot.
From the opening invitation, “Living in community, / it's a lot of FUN! / Lets count the ways. / Lets start with ONE,” Nagaro shows an urban community that is multicultural, supportive, and happy—exactly like the neighborhoods that many families choose to live and raise their children in. Text on every other page rhymes unobtrusively. Unlike the vocabulary found in A Is for Activist (2013), this book’s is entirely age-appropriate (though some parents might not agree that picketing is a way to show “that we care”). In A Is for Activist, a cat was hidden on each page; this time, finding the duck is the game. Counting is almost peripheral to the message. On the page with “Seven bikes and scooters and helmets to share,” identifying toys in an artistic heap is confusing. There is only one helmet for five toys, unless you count the second helmet worn by the girl riding a scooter—but then there are eight items, not seven. Seven helmets and seven toys would have been clearer. That quibble aside, Nagara's graphic design skills are evident, with deep colors, interesting angles, and strong lines, in a mix of digital collage and ink.
Ideal for any community where children count. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60980-632-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Triangle Square Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
A good-enough introduction to a contested festivity but one that’s not in step with the community it’s for.
An overview of the modern African-American holiday.
This book arrives at a time when black people in the United States have had intraracial—some serious, some snarky—conversations about Kwanzaa’s relevance nowadays, from its patchwork inspiration that flattens the cultural diversity of the African continent to a single festive story to, relatedly, the earnest blacker-than-thou pretentiousness surrounding it. Both the author and consultant Keith A. Mayes take great pains—and in painfully simplistic language—to provide a context that attempts to refute the internal arguments as much as it informs its intended audience. In fact, Mayes says in the endnotes that young people are Kwanzaa’s “largest audience and most important constituents” and further extends an invitation to all races and ages to join the winter celebration. However, his “young people represent the future” counterpoint—and the book itself—really responds to an echo of an argument, as black communities have moved the conversation out to listen to African communities who critique the holiday’s loose “African-ness” and deep American-ness and moved on to commemorate holidays that have a more historical base in black people’s experiences in the United States, such as Juneteenth. In this context, the explications of Kwanzaa’s principles and symbols and the smattering of accompanying activities feel out of touch.
A good-enough introduction to a contested festivity but one that’s not in step with the community it’s for. (resources, bibliography, glossary, afterword) (Nonfiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2849-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2017
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