Is it Winter Yet?

 A Sled for Gabo 

by Emma Otheguy; illus. by Ana Ramírez González 

40 pages; ages 4-8

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2021  

theme: friendship, winter

The day it snowed Gabo followed the whistling sound of an old steam radiator into the kitchen.

All the other kids are outside sledding. But Gabo doesn’t have a sled. He doesn’t have warm boots or wool socks or a winter hat, either. But Mami is a problem-solver. With many pairs of socks and plastic bags tied over his sneakers, Gabo is ready to go play in the snow. But first, he wants to find a sled.

What I like about this book: I like how Gabo goes to neighbors to see if they have a sled he can borrow. They don’t have a sled, but offer him other things. Eventually he does get something that will slide down the hill, and in the process makes a new friend.  I also like that the opening spreads show Mami and Papi cooking something on the stove: a can in a pot of water. And at the end, Papi cranks open the can and Gabo and his new friend grab spoons and dive into the Dulce de Leche. 

I also like the illustrations. Ana Ramírez González captures the expression of Gabo’s thrill and joy of riding down a hill perfectly! 

Beyond the Books:

People use all kinds of things to slide down a hill, from plastic saucers to lunch trays. What sorts of things could you use to slide down a hill if you don’t have a sled? Try some of them out and see how they work.

Make some Dulce de Leche (cooked sweet milk). You can do it in a can like Gabo’s Mami. Here’s how.

No boots? Try this. The trick to keeping your feet warm when all you’ve got is sneakers to wear on a snowy day is to insulate. Grandma used to grab bread bags to put over our socks. Here’s how to do it: Get two pair of knee socks (or socks that go up your calf a little bit). Put one sock on your foot. Put your foot inside a bread bag. Now pull the second sock over the bread-bagged foot. Put your foot in your sneaker and lace it up. Now do the same for your other foot. Go. Play in the snow. 

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy is from my local library system.

Avocado in Search of Self

Avocado Asks 

by Momoko Abe 

32 pages; ages 3-7

Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 2021 

theme: imagination, identity

Avocado was feeling just fine in the fruit and vegetable aisle of the supermarket.

At least he was until a kid asked whether he was a fruit or a vegetable. Avocado didn’t know the answer! So Avocado did what any other item in the produce section would do: set off in search of his identity. 

Was Avocado a Vegetable?

No, said the veggies.

Was Avocado a fruit?

You’re not sweet like us, they answered.

What I like about this book: I love, love, love when Avocado’s “insides felt like they were turning to guacamole.” I love how Avocado searches for identity amongst the lentils and eggs, fish and cheeses. And I love the tomato skulking around in the background. But most of all I love the fun language Momoko Abe uses to show how Avocado feels.

Beyond the Books:

Take a trip to a grocery store. Notice how the produce is displayed. Where is Avocado?

Check out the book trailer here.

Did you know you can make brownies using avocados? Well, I didn’t either. But here are a whole bunch of ways to enjoy avocados. So ask Avocado over for lunch!

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Reviewed from a library copy.

Mountain Chef

Mountain Chef: How one man lost his groceries...
by Annette Bay Pimentel; illus. by Rich Lo
40 pages; ages 6-9
Charlesbridge, 2016

themes: Exploration! Adventure! Food!

Tie Sing was a frontier baby, born high in the mountains in Virginia City, Nevada.

America was a tough place to be Chinese when Tie Sing was growing up. Chinese workers were paid less than white workers, and many people with Chinese names ended up cooking in restaurants or working in laundries. But Tie Sing had BIG dreams. He got a job  cooking for mapmakers as they explored and mapped the Sierras. And he got a reputation as the best trail cook around.

So when a party of Congressmen and others who interested in creating a National Park Service hired him as their trail cook, Tie Sing wanted to fix them meals that would make them remember the beauty of the peaks. No s'mores for this crew; it was English plum pudding with brandy sauce, eggs for breakfast, box lunches, and sourdough starter in the saddle bags for dinner loaves.

What I like about this book: I love camping and hiking, and the National Parks! I enjoyed Annette Pimentel's depiction of Tie Sing - he really worked hard to plan menus and pack ingredients. I like that she shows a typical day in the life of a trail chef. And that she includes the obstacles Tie Sing has to overcome - like when a mule wanders away with the food and he has to improvise a simple (yet elegant) meal. The words and illustrations take us on the journey with Tie Sing.

I also like the back matter - and there is plenty: information about immigration, how Tie Sing kept his food from going bad, and short biographies of the people who went on the expedition. End papers feature maps of the journey.

Beyond the Book:
Make some granola for your next camping trip; it also makes a good "carry along" breakfast for when you're traveling.

Learn more about our National Parks - and if you have the chance to visit one, do it.

Take a virtual hike up Sing Peak - here is a map, and wonderful photos of what you would see if you were hiking there. During a rest break - while you catch your breath - read up on the history of Tie Sing and the adventurous Mather Party.

Today is PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copy from the publisher.

Poems from the Farmer's Market

Fresh Delicious: Poems from the Farmer's Market
by Irene Latham; illus. by Mique Moriuchi
32 pages; ages 4-8
WordSong, 2016

What's round and smooth and red and "ripe like a summer moon"? If you guessed tomato, then you're right. And if you're eating juicy red tomatoes straight out of the garden - or fresh from the farmer's market - then you know there is nothing that says "summer" like tomato juice dripping down your chin.

Unless it's watermelon. Or peaches. Or blueberries or strawberries... or any of the fruits and vegetables featured in this book of fresh, right-off-the-vine poems.

The language is not only lyrical, it's mouthwatering. Take this ending of a bit about lettuce:
"Sometimes / I crunch / into a leaf
the very / same flavor / as rain."

Or the image of okra pods as "mouse-sized swords". Or the poem about shooting watermelon seeds... makes you want to grab some fresh watermelon and have a seed-spitting contest right now!

At the end are recipes from the farmer's market: salsa, fruit kebabs, fritata, pizza, ice cream. YUM!

The combination of yummy poems and bright, bold illustrations will tempt you to head out on an expedition to your local farmer's market. Make sure you take a notebook and some colored pencils along with your shopping bag, because you might want to jot down your own delicious poems and draw some pictures of the fruits and veggies you meet.

Review copy provided by publisher.

The Hole Story of the Doughnut

The Hole Story of the Doughnut
by Pat Miller; illus. by Vincent X. Kirsch
40 pages; ages 6-9
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016

theme: invention, biography

"Few remember the master mariner Hanson Crockett Gregory, though he was bold and brave and bright. But the pastry he invented more than 166 years ago is eaten daily by doughnut lovers everywhere."

Hanson Gregory was just 13 when he went to sea. He wanted to learn as much as possible, and he eventually became a captain of a clipper, shipping foods from Maine to California. He even got a medal for heroism from the Queen of Spain.

But what people remember him for: inventing the doughnut.

What I like about this book: It's a true story that reads like a tall tale. Kitchen boy goofs up making buns; comes up with way to ensure there are no raw, doughy centers by cutting them out. Sailors loved them and the rest is history. It's fun to read and the illustrations are clever, but make sure you've got a plate of doughnuts because everyone will want one when you turn the last page.

I like that there's back matter: author's note, a timeline, a bibliography of resources. I also like that author Pat Miller was inspired to write this book by a snippet of conversation she overheard. On a tour of Boston Harbor the guide offhandedly commented, "The guy who invented the hole in the doughnut is buried over there." That, and Miller's curiosity, led her to discover a delicious story.

Beyond the book

Celebrate National Donut Day. The first Friday of June (that's today) is National Donut Day, so find a place that serves doughnuts and celebrate. Check out this video about how doughnuts are made.

Make a cardboard Doughnut Ring Toss game. All you need is cardboard, scissors, paint and paper and glue and your imagination - and a dowel to pound into the ground for the target peg. Get some ideas here.

Make donuts out of old socks. You can toss them into a basket, play catch, juggle, or create a bakery. Directions here.

Today we're joining PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. On Monday  we're joining the roundup over at the Nonfiction Monday blog where you'll find even more book reviews Review copy provided by the publisher.

Celebrating Swamps

Two fun books arrived in my mailbox recently - both about swamps and gators. And food chains.
Theme: animals, nonfiction

Swamp Chomp
by Lola M. Schaefer; illus by Paul Meisel
32 pages; ages 4-8
Holiday House, 2014

Opening: "In the swamp... water ripples. Mosquitoes flit. Sit. Dragonflies swoop. Dip..." Animals flit, glide, and swim through the swamp in search of their next meal. But look out - because the alligator is always ready to chomp. The language in this book offers a full-course meal of active verbs that will have children gulping, chomping, and swallowing their next meal at the dining room table.

The Swamp Where Gator Hides
by Marianne Berkes; illus by Roberta Baird
32 pages; ages 3 - 8
Dawn Publications, 2014

Opening: "This is the algae that carpets the swamp where Gator hides.
This is the duck who paddles in ooze under the algae that carpets the swamp...." This is the book that shows you the food chain made up of the animals in and around the swam where Gator hides. Why is Gator hiding? Because he's camouflaged, lying in wait for prey - and when his dinner shows up he'll attack!

What I like about both books: What a FUN way to learn about food chains. In Swamp Chomp it's the active language that breathes life into the predator/prey relationship. The Swamp where Gator Hides builds cumulatively like "the house that Jack built" - until the surprise at the end. Both books have end-notes to help parents (and older siblings) answer the endless stream of questions that always comes when reading about alligators.

Beyond the books: Act out the verbs in Swamp Chomp. Pull a sock over your hand and turn it into an alligator - then have fun gulping and munching your way through a swampy food chain.

Make a Snake out of the letter S. This is a fun way to explore the alphabet - and might lead to some discussion about what other animals start with "S".

Make a paper plate tortoise - you can find instructions here.

 Drop by STEM Friday to see what other science books and resources bloggers are sharing. Today's review is also part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copies provided by publishers.

How to Eat Like a Bear

Eat Like a Bear
by April Pulley Sayre; illus. by Steve Jenkins
32 Pages; ages 4 - 8
Henry Holt & Co, 2013

The bears in our neck of the woods love to eat sunflower seeds and suet. They'll rip the covers off the honeybee hives, swipe the can of birdseed right off the porch, and have no qualms about riffling through the garbage cans for left over lo mein.

But that's not the way they eat in the natural world. April Pulley Sayre shows a year of seasonal bear meals, beginning in April when bears wake up hungry. What's for breakfast?
"Bushes? Bare. No berries there." So where will bear find food? Green stems growing above the snow; the carcass of a bison or deer that died in winter. In May it's dandelions, sedges, slugs and ants. In June it's trout... and July maybe some roots.

The brown bear wanders through the months, digging in, digging down with paw and claw. By fall it's time to fatten up and find a den before the snows come.

The illustrations - torn and cut paper - add texture... you can almost feel the shaggy fur of the brown bear. The back pages are filled with additional information about bears, the food they eat, hibernation, and scientists who study bears.

Today is STEM Friday - head over to the STEM Friday blog to see what other people are talking about in science. But watch out for hungry bears! Review copy provided by publisher.

What's in the Garden?

What's in the Garden?
by Marianne Berkes; illus. by Chris Arbo
32 pages, ages 3-8
Dawn Publications, 2013

"Delicious, nutritious, what could it be?" The first page features that important question and an illustration of a bird singing in a tree, pink blossoms blooming all around. Flip the page and you see it's an apple - complete with directions for how to make applesauce.

There's lettuce, carrots, cukes, onions and more - each with a recipe for something a child can help prepare. Illustrations feature beneficial insects - ladybugs and bees - as well as potato beetles and other pesky insects that nibble our veggies for lunch.

Four pages of back matter include "Food for Though" which tells a bit more about each of the fruits and vegetables. "How does your Garden Grow?" lists what plants need (light, air, water... just for starters) and clears up the question: is a tomato a fruit? You can learn about plant parts, cooking terms, and find a list of garden songs to sing while you pull weeds.

I can't think of a better place to be on the solstice than in a garden! This post is part of STEM Friday round-up. Review copy provided by publisher.