Part cookbook, part picture book, 100% delicious.
A compendium for curious budding cooks of every stripe.
Multicultural residents living in an apartment block on Garden Street are cooking up a global smorgasbord. Mr. Ping (who appears Asian) stir-fries some broccoli, or “little trees” as his nephew Benjamin calls them. “Across the hall, Maria mashes avocados with a fork.” Maria and her mother (they have olive skin, black hair, dark eyes and appear to be Latinx) are making guacamole. Mr. Melville (who appears to be white) raises his knife to fillet a fish for sole meunière. Elsewhere in the building, Josef (a white boy with light brown hair) and Rafik (who presents black) together prepare meatballs with turkey, zucchini, and feta. Other neighbors are making coconut dal, miniquiches, and baba ganouj. For each spread, author/illustrator Sala renders delightful full-bleed pictures that showcase residents in action on the left and a visual recipe on the right. Each of these has detailed drawings of ingredients followed by easy-to-follow written instruction. With no more than six main ingredients each, the simple recipes feature global culinary traditions and fresh flavors. From kid favorites such as spaghetti al pomodoro and peanut-butter–and–chocolate-chip cookies to dishes with ingredients not as common in many North American kitchens (think tahini and fresh ginger), there are recipes for every palate. Finally, “everything is ready. It’s time to go downstairs.” In the final spread, the diverse community—of families, single parents, elderly folks, millennials, etc.—all gather in the garden for delicious food and fun company.
Part cookbook, part picture book, 100% delicious. (Cook/picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-3-7913-7397-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Prestel
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Best for readers who have clearly indicated they would like to take their writing efforts to the next level.
A young white girl writes and illustrates a story, which is critiqued by the narrator as it is created.
The girl begins her story by drawing a Hero. Then she thinks maybe a Heroine would be better. Then she decides both will work. She places them in “a good town, filled with good people, called our Setting.” The narrator, an unseen editor who lurks over the artist’s shoulder, tells the storyteller she needs to put in some Conflict, make the Evil Overlord scarier, and give it better action. This tongue-in-cheek way of delivering the rules of creative writing is clever, and paired with Le Huche’s earnest, childlike illustrations, it seems to be aimed at giving helpful direction to aspiring young creators (although the illustrations are not critiqued). But the question needs to be asked: do very young writers really need to know the rules of writing as determined by adults? While the story appears to be about helping young readers learn writing—there is “A Friendly List of Words Used in this Book” at the end with such words as “protagonist” and “antagonist” (glossed as “Hero and Heroine” and “Evil Overlord,” respectively)—it also has a decidedly unhelpful whiff of judgment. Rules, the text seems to say, must be followed for the story to be a Good one. Ouch.
Best for readers who have clearly indicated they would like to take their writing efforts to the next level. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2935-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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