A savory legend that also serves as an advertisement for artisanal sausage.
An apocryphal tale of a mustachioed sausage-maker who, with nowhere left to run, disguises himself as a nun.
In this colorful debut picture book, Wilhelms tells the story of a friendly Mexican butcher and his wildly popular sausage. He grows so famous that meat-lovers from all over visit his store to try his gourmet links. He tries his best to keep up with demand, but he takes the process seriously and doesn’t want to skimp on ingredients. His craftsmanship makes an enemy of El Gordo, a local mobster who wants the tasty chorizo on demand—and all to himself. El Gordo sends his underlings to steal the secret recipe, so the sausage man makes a run for it. He finds refuge in a nunnery, in which the sisters have taken a vow of silence. Outfitted in a full habit (though still sporting his signature bushy mustache), he hides among the nuns. Soon, El Gordo’s goons hear of a hairy-faced nun who makes delicious sausage, and they can’t ignore the coincidence. But the silent sisters don’t turn him in; instead, they protect him by also donning mustaches—wide ones, with comical curves that call to mind Salvador Dali’s. The sausage maker revels in his newfound camaraderie among the nuns, who bestow upon him the honorific “Mother Choriza” (after the chorizo sausage). El Gordo’s vain pursuit of the secret recipe, in contrast to Mother Choriza’s magnanimity, will allow parents and teachers to discuss bullying and the folly of selfishness, appropriate topics for preschoolers and elementary school students. The warm-toned illustrations give the Mexican countryside, with its cheery campesinos, a pastoral appeal, and the well-paced plot will keep young readers engaged. The legend also includes a handful of alternate endings for the tale, which may be confusing for some younger readers. Unfortunately, the book takes an unappetizing turn in its final pages, as it’s revealed that the story is branded marketing for a commercial sausage company.
A savory legend that also serves as an advertisement for artisanal sausage.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1496091284
Page Count: 68
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.
Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.
“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9780063304413
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
An intriguing but uneven family memoir and travelogue.
An author’s trip to Venice takes a distinctly Borgesian turn.
In November 2020, soccer club Venizia F.C. offered Nigerian American author Madu a writing residency as part of its plan “to turn the team into a global entity of fashion, culture, and sports.” Flying to Venice for the fellowship, he felt guilty about leaving his immigrant parents, who were shocked to learn upon moving to the U.S. years earlier that their Nigerian teaching certifications were invalid, forcing his father to work as a stocking clerk at Rite Aid to support the family. Madu’s experiences in Venice are incidental to what is primarily a story about his family, especially his strained relationship with his father, who was disappointed with many of his son’s choices. Unfortunately, the author’s seeming disinterest in Venice renders much of the narrative colorless. He says the trip across the Ponte della Libertà bridge was “magical,” but nothing he describes—the “endless water on both sides,” the nearby seagulls—is particularly remarkable. Little in the text conveys a sense of place or the unique character of his surroundings. Madu is at his best when he focuses on family dynamics and his observations that, in the largely deserted city, “I was one of the few Black people around.” He cites Borges, giving special note to the author’s “The House of Asterion,” in which the minotaur “explains his situation as a creature and as a creature within the labyrinth” of multiple mirrors. This notion leads to the Borgesian turn in the book’s second half, when, in an extended sequence, Madu imagines himself transformed into a minotaur, with “the head of a bull” and his body “larger, thicker, powerful but also cumbersome.” It’s an engaging passage, although stylistically out of keeping with much of what has come before.
An intriguing but uneven family memoir and travelogue.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781953368669
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Belt Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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