An entertaining, giggleworthy blend of gastronomic history and fiction.
Young Julius Caesar doesn’t want to eat his veggies.
A young Julius Caesar, squat, with a simple, round face, clad in a white toga and sporting a laurel, is interrupted from playing a checkerslike game with his owl companion. His father is throwing a banquet, and Julius must attend for the first time. Rhythmic, rhyming text first describes preparatory traditions, from changing into a more elaborate toga to washing his hands and feet. Children will be more fascinated, however, by the increasingly elaborate, colorfully illustrated dishes served to the finicky Julius. After the boy turns down oysters, peacock, flamingo, stuffed sow’s udders, and boiled camel’s feet, the narrator offers “a plate of sea scorpions— / a sweet custard with fish— / pig lungs stuffed with fresh figs— / veggies and brains in one dish!” The humorous buildup concludes with a relatable scene: The little Caesar may be excused once he finishes his enormous pile of peas. The illustrations maintain a kid’s perspective, with only other children’s faces visible and adult faces cut out of scenes. Julius is tan-skinned; the other children are tan- or brown-skinned. Facts about Julius Caesar and Roman eating customs wrap up the story. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An entertaining, giggleworthy blend of gastronomic history and fiction. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-951836-48-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cameron Kids
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
The human capacity to reach out to those who suffer is lovingly and inspiringly rendered. (Picture book. 4-8)
A moment of communal compassion is remembered in this fictionalized retelling of a too-little-known tale.
When little Kedi learns from her Cameroon village’s teacher that the people of New York are starving thanks to the Great Depression, she can’t get the problem out of her head. Determined to help the hungry children overseas, Kedi appeals to all the people of her village, only to be rebuffed. No one has enough money to pay the colonial head tax, let alone spare riches for an unknown poor. Downcast, Kedi returns to school, only to discover that her efforts to open the hearts of her neighbors have worked beyond her wildest hopes. Rockliff’s recap of this true 1931 incident taps into the wonder of altruism toward total strangers. An author's note explaining not just the story’s background but also similar historical incidents proves to be almost more fascinating than the book itself. All this is accompanied by Tanksley’s lush, vibrantly colored paintings, which take seemingly simple images and render them big, beautiful and bold. They make what might otherwise be a rote story lush.
The human capacity to reach out to those who suffer is lovingly and inspiringly rendered. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-84569-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
A little girl’s mom leads her from princess dress-up to real women in a brief tale that does not let its earnestness get in the way of the fun.
Some of the language is a bit awkward (“spinning like a diamond”? “a daring new dame”?), and the gouache-and-collage images, with their rubbery facial expressions and flattened perspectives, share that clumsiness. It’s hard not to cheer, however, when on Monday the unnamed little girl puts on goggles like Amelia Earhart, on Tuesday sings like Ella (Fitzgerald), on Wednesday is Elizabeth the Super Suffragist and continues through the week with Scientist Marie (Curie), chef Julia (Child), ballerina Maria (Tallchief) and artist Frida (Kahlo). She ends hoping little girls will dress up like her someday. All this playacting is performed to an appreciative audience of friends and toys. The colors are bright and the textures amusing (Julia’s fish is made of newsprint with a recipe for Hot Tuna Loaf Sandwich). It is good to see that ethnicity plays no part in whom the protagonist chooses to emulate. Biographies of the women named (each only a few sentences long) and a rather odd bibliography of picture books—and Mastering the Art of French Cooking—conclude the text. Inspired little girls may be unhappy to see that the paper doll and outfits on the endpapers are pasted down, though. In all, another happy antidote to the princess plague. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-375-86092-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
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