A strong choice for foodies and all curious children.
Do pancakes come from a box?
Food Network star Florence has penned a children’s ode to the know-where-your-food-comes-from movement. A story told completely in dialogue, it begins with little Tyler waking from a dream in which he is the captain of a pancake spaceship. With full-on determination, he sets out on his mission to make pancakes, accompanied by his equally inquisitive dog, Tofu. Tyler’s first stop is Mr. Jones’ market for groceries. For each ingredient, the kind and patient grocer transports young Tyler out of the market and back to the farm, where chickens provide the eggs, cows provide the buttermilk and the wheat grows in flat places like Kansas. Florence brings home the message that the best food has the best (or least processed) ingredients. Without the word “organic” appearing once, the cooking-from-scratch message is loud and clear. Capturing the spirit of curiosity is Frazier’s department. The renowned graphic designer has created Tyler as a stick figure with a big round head and a pink nose. Even with a limited palette of mostly blues and ochers, wonder, humor and clarity shine from the pages. The childlike perspective featuring enormous stacks of pancakes and tiny, distant adult faces invites readers into Tyler’s real and imagined worlds.
A strong choice for foodies and all curious children. (recipe, informational page) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-204752-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
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A silly snack guaranteed to satisfy the funny bone; kids will eat it up and ask for more.
In this droll tale, ostensibly straightforward instructions are a recipe for absurdity.
To obtain the two slices of bread that a jelly sandwich calls for, a brown-skinned youngster named Frankie instructs readers to head to the store. But NOT to the bakery aisle! Instead, buy “one orange [traffic] cone, scuba flippers, and a yellow inner tube.” Using those items to fashion a duck disguise, you’ll score the bread from a brown-skinned elder feeding wildfowl in the park. And if the ducks see through your pretense, you might have to practice your “quack-cent.” Similar maneuvers are required to open the jelly jar: You’ll need peanuts, a playground with a “whirly-go-round,” and an elephant with a strong trunk grip. (But if the jar is carelessly opened upside down, you’ll get a “jellyphant.”) To spread the jelly, you must first scrub a dog in your bathtub. (Dip the clean tail in the jelly, then pet and praise the dog until it happily wags its tail over the bread slices.) Putting the slices together requires a knightly tournament, but cutting the sandwich, “the least complicated step of all,” involves training a hamster to ride a unicycle. The final pages propose an alternative (but just as outrageous) method and invite readers to think up their own ridiculous techniques. Burach’s scenarios are inventive and hilarious, while his exaggerated cartoon illustrations reinforce the delicious jokiness each step of the way.
A silly snack guaranteed to satisfy the funny bone; kids will eat it up and ask for more. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 21, 2026
ISBN: 9781338877090
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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