There is no other word but delicious.
Blackberry fool is a fine dessert indeed, and people have been making it for centuries.
Readers learn from the historical note that the name probably comes from the French fouler and means “smushed up” rather than a silly thing. Blackall’s illustrations are as graceful and historically accurate as she can make them, as she and Jenkins take readers to 1710 Lyme, England, where a mother and daughter pick wild blackberries; 1810 Charleston, South Carolina, where an enslaved mother and daughter pick them in the plantation garden; 1910 Boston, where a mother and daughter buy their berries at the market; and finally 2010 San Diego, where a boy and his dad use store-bought berries, an Internet recipe and organic cream. Jenkins tells the story of each family’s preparation, and alert children will delight in the different tools and methods used to whip the cream, strain the berries and keep the dessert cold. But everyone licks the bowl clean in the end. Blackall even incorporates blackberry juice as one of her “paints," using it to color the endpapers. The homes and families are wildly different, which makes their shared delight in this simple, ancient sweet all the more compelling. The notes from the illustrator and the historical notes will warm the cockles of teachers’, librarians’ and parents’ hearts. A complete recipe is included too, so readers can run right out and make it for their own families.
There is no other word but delicious. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-375-86832-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
PROFILES
Comfy and cozy, with nary a meanie in sight.
Following Hey, Grandude (2019), more jolly fun as the title character squires his four young “Chillers” aboard a green sub (where does Sir Paul get his ideas?) to catch up with his partner in adventure: Nandude!
Casting about for something to do on a sweltering day, the multiracial quartet eagerly follows their grizzled White gramps down to an underground chamber where a viridian vessel awaits to take them soaring through the sky to a distant land. There, Grandude’s old friend Ravi plays a tune of Nandude’s that accompanies them after they leave him. It leads them under the sea to an octopus’s garden and a briefly scary tangle with the ink-spraying giant. The monster’s set to dancing, though, as Nandude floats up in her own accordion-shaped ship to carry everyone home for tea, biscuits, and bed in a swirl of notes. Aside maybe from the odd spray of shiny stars here and there, Durst steers clear of sight gags and direct visual references to the film or music in her cheery cartoon scenes. Both she and the text do kit Ravi out, appropriately, with a sitar, but there’s no 1960s-style psychedelia to be seen. Nostalgic adults may be disappointed to see that even the submarine bears no resemblance to the iconic vessel of the film but instead just looks like a plush, smiling toy whale, eyes and all. Children, of course, won’t care. That this book does not try to trade (heavily) on its antecedents makes it a refreshing change from so many other celebrity titles. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Comfy and cozy, with nary a meanie in sight. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-37243-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
This disquieting story may be best used as a discussion starter.
With bad news in the air, Mom is glued to the television, and Dad is constantly checking his phone; it is up to the children to remind them they are still there.
As the book starts, a family of four—mother, father, and two children—is engaged with planting seeds at the kitchen table. They are all depicted with brown skin and enormous, outsized eyes. When bad news breaks on the TV, everyone’s life is turned upside down. The grown-ups all around are clearly overwhelmed, and all the children in school reflect this in their sad and scared faces. In this unsettling atmosphere the tables are turned, and it is up to the young protagonist to help the grown-ups. After some clowning around, a promise of a force field to protect them, and doing the dishes fail to bring the desired effect, a series of smaller good deeds does the trick. What stands out in the mixed-media illustrations are the enormous eyes, which at times give the characters an outright scary look. It is hard to decide whether this story is intended for adults, reminding them of their responsibility toward children in times of trouble; or for children, empowering them to take action when the adults in their lives fail them.
This disquieting story may be best used as a discussion starter. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-15356-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
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