Last year I read and loved, as I do any book that makes food and cooking a central plot thread, Rutabaga the Adventure Chef #1 by Eric Colossal. Rutabaga, his pop-up kitchen and Pot, his trusty cauldron/pet, are back for more food, fun and adventure in Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Feasts of Fury. And, as before, Rutabaga is a little bit goofy, a little bit gullible and a very passionate about cooking and feeding his friends, and even his enemies, from time to time.
Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Feasts of Fury finds Rutabaga and Pot in the land of the dreaded gubblins where he meets, and cooks for, an old timer who shares memories of a soup he ate more than 30 years ago, prepared - with a special, secret ingredient - by his uncle. But, as he leads Rutabaga to the spot where he thought his uncle found the secret ingredient, a big, fanged surprise is waiting for him.
From there, Rutabaga meets a troupe of actors and inspires a new play with an old favorite from his cooking school days, Poisoned Pot Pie. The pie isn't really poisoned, but there is a bean hidden in one of the individual pies and the person who gets it has to wash up. Rutabaga meets a mysterious thief/princess/liar named Minus and a very cool ingredient is part of a fantastic recipe that involves lock picking. When those dreaded gubblins do finally materialize, I think you can guess how Rutabaga gets himself, Pot and Minus out of a very dire predicament. And, quite happily, as with book 1, Colossal shares a handful of Rutabaga's special recipes - that kids can really make - at the end of the book. There are Popping Chocolate Spiders, Gubblin Snot, No-Bake "Poisoned" Cookies!
Source: Review Copy
Ever since I read Bread and Jam for Frances (you can read my review/tribute of this book here) as a small child, I have been drawn to picture books with food themes - or characters. In light of this, I have no idea how I missed Terry Border's first book last year, Peanut Butter and Cupcake. Happily, I got the chance to read Happy Birthday, Cupcake, which combines one of my favorite
Rutabaga the Adventure Chef by Eric Colossal began life as an online and is now available in book form and in full color (although I couldn't find any color images to share here...)!
I absolutely love the character of Rutabaga and the world that Colossal has created for him to wander in. When we first meet him, he is trekking through the wilds with a huge pack on his back (it turns out to
I bought Delicious!, the debut work of fiction by restaurant critic, food writer (food memoirist might be a better moniker), former editor of Gourmet Magazine, Ruth Reichl as a gift for my mother, who is a decent cook and ardent reader of Reichl's work and that of other great food writers, and my aunt, a spectacular, thoughtful cook who does not read fiction. I thought I might borrow it (
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This is really going to be more of a confession than a review because packing my kids' lunches is a secret source of frustration and occasionally shame for
Besides the fact that I love any book about food, I just love the dedication to Carl Warner's new book A World of Food: Discover Magical Lands Made of Things You Can Eat - "To all children who love to play with their food." I don't think you could ask for a better combination of fantastic scenarios combined with scrumptious foods (although not pictured here, there is a whole landscape made
Of course I wanted to read Wendy Mass's newest book The Candymakers the minute I saw it. I am a huge fan of all the books of hers I have read (reviews of which you can read by clicking here) and a huge fan of kid's books that have candy as a central plot theme. Since it came out in paperback in October, 2011 it has been flying off the shelves. And, since October, 2011, I have been reading it out
I first encountered the work of Nikki McClure at story time in 2009 when I read All in a Day, written by Cynthia Rylant. The following year, I featured Mama, Is It Summer Yet? in my post of great books for Mother's Day. It was right around that time that I discovered the blog Mishaps and Adventures, written by Chad Beckerman, the Art Director for Abrams Books and Amulet Books for Young Readers.
Chris Butterworth and Lucia Gaggioti's How Did That Get in My Lunchbox takes a page from Richard Scarry's What Do People Do All Day, taking an in depth (for the 7 and under crowd) look at where things come from. Packed full of great illustrations and information, How Did That Get in My Lunchbox is surprisingly readable for a non-fiction book for kids.My kids and I love the Magic School Bus and
photo by H Dickins www.flickr.com
I picked up this book at the library immediately because most parents I know, including myself and my husband, deal with a fussy eater. My stepson is not terrible, but there’s still some days when he will throw me for a loop over something he won’t eat. That’s kind of what happens to Freya’s parents in this book. I think this book is an hysterical way to get kids to go back to eating foods they decided they didn’t like anymore, but some parents might find it a bit extreme in dealing with fussy eaters. Read on . . .
*Picture book for preschoolers through second graders
*Young girl as main character
*Rating: Fussy Freya is a great book for talking to kids about eating and not being a picky eater. The illustrations are super cute and fun!
Short, short summary: Katharine Quarmby tells Freya’s tale of being a fussy eater in rhyme with some repeatable text. Fussy Freya is great for a read aloud in a classroom, at a library story time, or before bedtime. Freya used to eat all her food; but one day, she decides that she is not going to eat her mum’s dhal and rice, even though her baby brother and the cat eat every spicy bite. She says some not-so-nice things to her mum and does not eat anything her mum puts in front of her. She throws fits–throwing fish on the floor, which the cat loves, of course. But soon, her mum and dad have had enough, and so Mum calls Grandma. Grandma tells Mum that she acted the same way when she was three years old, and Grandma says, “Send her to me!” When Freya goes to Grandma’s house, she’s sure she will get anything she wants–candy and sweets, especially. But she is not prepared for the lesson that Grandpa and Grandma teach Freya about the delicious food she could be getting at her parents’ house. Cute idea and the illustrations in Fussy Freya are the type that children can look at again and again and find new stuff while teaching a small lesson to fussy eaters.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. Ask children to draw a collage of their favorite foods. (You could also have them cut pictures out of magazines.) Once children have their collages made, ask them to write a short poem (with a rhyming 2nd and 4th line like in Fussy Freya) about one of their favorite foods (or all of them). If you have young students, you could write one poem together as a class that they could copy, or they could write a poem at home with their families. Display the collages and the poems around the room.
2. This is a great book for starting a discussion with students about manners since Freya displays so many bad manners throughout the book. You can easily use Fussy Freya as part of character education. Have fun with it! Maybe students can even role play examples of good and bad manners.
3. This is also a great book to use for teaching about the Food Pyramid and healthy eating. The United States Department of Agriculture has many resources for teachers to talk with students of all ages about nutrition and healthy eating. Click the link and check them out!
Before I was in first grade, I was Fussy Margo. My mom made me all sorts of separate meals, so I didn’t have to eat what my parents were eating. Then in first grade, my teacher had a food challenge. We got a star on a chart for each new food we tried. I loved this contest and came in 2nd place. Since then, I haven’t been quite as fussy. So, it’s an idea if you have some fussy eaters around you.
Any more ideas? Let us know!
Winston Churchill once called a waiter to his table during dessert and said, "Pray sir, take away this pudding. It has no theme."
Lately political pundits and bloggers are calling the McCain campaign a themeless pudding.
It’s such a great phrase that could apply to so much (of my) writing.
Now keeping with the theme of pudding (but not themeless pudding) here’s a link to a short video about Norman Lindsay, author and illustrator of The Magic Pudding. 
Last year I read and loved, as I do any book that makes food and cooking a central plot thread, Rutabaga the Adventure Chef #1 by Eric Colossal. Rutabaga, his pop-up kitchen and Pot, his trusty cauldron/pet, are back for more food, fun and adventure in Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Feasts of Fury. And, as before, Rutabaga is a little bit goofy, a little bit gullible and a very passionate about cooking and feeding his friends, and even his enemies, from time to time.
What treasures! My 3 year old loves books about food- she s going to LOVE these. :-)