A lighthearted look at the art and soul of a recipe.
Tomato or potato?
When Manhattan chefs had the gall to insert tomatoes into the classic New England clam chowder recipe, Maine politician Cleveland Sleeper took umbrage and action, drafting an attention-getting bill to require that “anyone caught poisoning the chowder cauldron with tomatoes will be forced to dig a barrel of clams at HIGH TIDE.” Colorful, whimsical illustrations and energetic, suspenseful text relate Sleeper’s culinary concerns with drama, humor, and gusto and show how a feud developed. Before the bill could be filed, a Philadelphia restaurateur challenged Sleeper’s personally selected chef to a duel, which resulted in a media frenzy and eventual answer to the question of which soup was really the best. This lighthearted look at local politics, cooking, and loyalty to tradition shows how, in a simpler time, showmanship, economics, and politics merged. (Maine clam chowder was a major tourist attraction, and Iowa, a producer of tomatoes, objected to government interference in cooking.) Though a bit scanty in detail—when this occurred (1939) is not mentioned until the endnotes, for instance—this quirky examination of tradition, food, and law presents a comic taste of state history and provides a background for consideration of media and politics as well as competition and cooking shows. Sleeper and other named characters present White; some people of color appear in illustrations. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 74.3% of actual size.)
A lighthearted look at the art and soul of a recipe. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-944762-82-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Islandport Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston...
A memorable, lyrical reverse-chronological walk through the life of an American icon.
In free verse, Cline-Ransome narrates the life of Harriet Tubman, starting and ending with a train ride Tubman takes as an old woman. “But before wrinkles formed / and her eyes failed,” Tubman could walk tirelessly under a starlit sky. Cline-Ransome then describes the array of roles Tubman played throughout her life, including suffragist, abolitionist, Union spy, and conductor on the Underground Railroad. By framing the story around a literal train ride, the Ransomes juxtapose the privilege of traveling by rail against Harriet’s earlier modes of travel, when she repeatedly ran for her life. Racism still abounds, however, for she rides in a segregated train. While the text introduces readers to the details of Tubman’s life, Ransome’s use of watercolor—such a striking departure from his oil illustrations in many of his other picture books—reveals Tubman’s humanity, determination, drive, and hope. Ransome’s lavishly detailed and expansive double-page spreads situate young readers in each time and place as the text takes them further into the past.
A picture book more than worthy of sharing the shelf with Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney’s Minty (1996) and Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson’s Moses (2006). (Picture book/biography. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2047-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
A straightforward and informative primer on Pride and the community it engenders.
Why do rainbow flags often appear each June? Stonewall Award–winning author Lukoff offers an explanation.
Every year, queer folks and their allies come together to observe Pride—“a reminder for everyone to be proud of who they are.” After the Stonewall rebellion in June 1969 in New York City—a night when gay men and women and trans people “decided to fight back” after enduring frequent arrests by police—and the yearly parades that followed in its wake, San Francisco designer Gilbert Baker developed the rainbow Pride flag as a “symbol of hope for LGBTQIA+ people.” Lukoff explores the meanings behind the different colors of the most common Pride flag, from yellow (“sunlight”), which represents coming out of the closet and “being out in the light,” to orange (“healing”), which conveys the importance of seeking support. Though this yearly celebration has been co-opted by rampant commercialism, Lukoff returns to its roots, focusing on the community-building aspects of Pride. Other flags are featured such as the trans, genderqueer, asexual, and bisexual flags, yet they aren’t labeled or delved into further—a missed opportunity to emphasize the ever-growing queer community (the Progress Pride flag isn’t included at all). The upbeat digital illustrations depict people of different ages, races, genders, and sexualities. A note for parents offers basic child-friendly definitions of each of the terms in the initialism LGBTQIA.
A straightforward and informative primer on Pride and the community it engenders. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593807859
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Golden Books/Random
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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