Hopkinson (Band of Angels, 1998, etc.) documents domestic history in the making, using real people and fleshing out a true, little-known episode. Young Marcia Shaw, considering herself quite competent at household tasks, is considerably annoyed when her expectant mother announces the arrival of a mother’s helper named Fannie Farmer. Not only can Miss Farmer really cook, however, she turns out to be a patient teacher, guiding Marcia past one culinary disaster after another by writing down step-by-step directions, and in the process inventing the modern recipe. For the pictures, Carpenter has transferred, colored, and seamlessly added details to actual 19th-century illustrations, sometimes to hilarious effect: in one scene, for instance, after Marcia is sent to the kitchen to order more biscuits, her supposedly prim and proper mother can be seen through the doorway enthusiastically licking her plate. The tale is presented in episodic “Courses,” framed quotes from Miss Farmer’s now-famous cookbook hang on the wall in many scenes, and an afterword (plus a recipe) follows the triumphant conclusion, in which Marcia proudly navigates a recipe to make an enormous Golden Cake all on her own. Delicious! (Picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-81965-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
Spinning lively invented details around skimpy historical records, Taylor profiles the 19th-century chef credited with inventing the potato chip. Crum, thought to be of mixed Native-American and African-American ancestry, was a lover of the outdoors, who turned cooking skills learned from a French hunter into a kitchen job at an upscale resort in New York state. As the story goes, he fried up the first batch of chips in a fit of pique after a diner complained that his French fries were cut too thickly. Morrison’s schoolroom, kitchen and restaurant scenes seem a little more integrated than would have been likely in the 1850s, but his sinuous figures slide through them with exaggerated elegance, adding a theatrical energy as delicious as the snack food they celebrate. The author leaves Crum presiding over a restaurant (also integrated) of his own, closes with a note separating fact from fiction and also lists her sources. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-58430-255-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
An emotional entry point to a larger, necessary discussion on this complex and difficult subject.
The paths of four migrant children from different Central American countries cross as they enter Mexico, and together they continue their journey to the United States.
Though their reasons for undertaking the perilous journey are different, their hopes are not: They all hope for asylum in the U.S. Ten-year-old Alessandra, from Guatemala, hopes to reunite with her mother, who left four years ago. Thirteen-year-old Laura and her 7-year-old brother, Nando, from El Salvador, are going to live with relatives in the U.S. And 14-year-old Rodrigo, from Honduras, will try to join his parents in Nebraska rather than join a local gang. Along the way they encounter danger, hunger, kindness from strangers, and, most importantly, the strength of friendship with one another. Through the four children, the book provides but the barest glimpse into the reasons, hopes, and dreams of the thousands of unaccompanied minors that arrive at the U.S.–Mexico border every year. Artist Guevara has added Central American folk art–influenced details to her illustrations, giving depth to the artwork. These embellishments appear as line drawings superimposed on the watercolor scenes. The backmatter explains the reasons for the book, helping to place it within the larger context of ongoing projects at Baylor University related to the migration crisis in Central America.
An emotional entry point to a larger, necessary discussion on this complex and difficult subject. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64442-008-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Six Foot Press
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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