POPCORN COUNTRY

The subtitle says it all.

Americans eat 4.5 billion gallons of popcorn each year, or 18 times the volume of the Empire State Building. Every year, they eat 200 million boxes of Cracker Jack, that combination of popcorn, peanut, and molasses so many Americans grew up with. Ubiquitous as it is, however, the youngest readers may not realize that popcorn is actually a plant from “the land of wind turbines and flat-as-a-pancake prairie” known as the Corn Belt. Big, bright color photographs nicely complement the informative text, which details where popcorn is grown, how it is one of four types of corn grown on 90 million acres of land, and that popcorn is not simply picked, shucked, and shelled; the kernels must be processed and dried so they have just the right amount of moisture for popping. A particularly clear explanation of the physics of popcorn is a highlight. The photographs, laid out in a pleasantly varied design, present a diverse cast of smiling children enjoying popcorn. The penultimate spread presents a photograph of a huge ship loaded with containers of popcorn bound for countries all over the world, demonstrating just what big business popcorn is. Additional information is contained in the backmatter, and sources include books for children who might want to read further.

Solid information and much food for thought.