Too light to be very filling but tasty nonetheless.
A broader perspective for readers who think no further than cupboards and fridges when asked where their food comes from.
Constructing mini-narratives—some decidedly simplistic—as he goes meal by meal from the “Sad, Boring World Before Breakfast” to the “Sweet History of Dessert,” Rickert explains how, for instance, Central Asian herdsmen discovered yogurt; enslaved Black people made fried chicken at the behest of landowners in America but, after the Civil War, invented “shoebox” lunches on their own; and, before the 17th century (in, presumably, Europe), sweets were served among the courses rather than at meal’s end. (“Please pass the ham and cookies,” a diner requests.) Aside from occasionally spooning in critical comments about “cheap toys” and mountains of sugar in breakfast cereals, the author maintains a generally buoyant tone, reflected in the accompanying large cast of informally drawn, diversely clad and hued cartoon cooks and consumers uttering jokey side remarks. Along with breezy side notes on, say, the training of a sushi chef or the U.S. Navy’s “ice-cream barge” (which dished up, he claims, 800 million gallons to American sailors in World War II), he layers in tributes to “superheroes” associated with various foods or inventions, such as pioneering cookbook maven Eliza Leslie and Charles Cretors (creator of the popcorn wagon), and includes galleries of birthday cakes, pickles, pizzas, and sandwiches throughout. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Too light to be very filling but tasty nonetheless. (recipes, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9781662670138
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Kane Press
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
Should attract aspiring adventurers.
After showcasing risk-taking gals in Women Daredevils (2007), Cummins introduces 10 “dauntless” women born before 1900 whose little-known deeds “contribut[ed] to science, geography, history, and cultural understanding” at a time when “proper ladies simply did not go gallivanting around the world to explore new territories.”
Starting with Louise Boyd, who traded stylish dresses for boots and breeches to explore the Arctic, and closing with Daisy Bates, who studied Australian Aborigines for 35 years, Cummins presents breezy three-to-four–page biographies of her unconventional females. The variety of their endeavors astound. Nellie Cashman “rushed” for gold in British Columbia, the Klondike and Alaska; botanist Ynes Mexia collected thousands of plants in the wilderness of Mexico, the United States and the Amazon; Lucy Cheesman sojourned with cannibals while studying insects in the South Pacific. Suffragist Annie Peck scaled Europe and South America’s highest peaks. Dutch heiress Alexandrine Tinné searched for the Nile’s source and was murdered traversing the Sahara. Delia Akeley became the first woman to cross Africa. Violet Cressy-Marcks made eight trips around the world, and Freya Stark traveled throughout the Middle East. In an engaging, informative style, Cummins highlights fascinating facts about these feisty females “who conquered the unknown.” Dramatic watercolor illustrations memorialize each.
Should attract aspiring adventurers. (author’s note and list of additional female explorers; selected bibliography, websites) (Collective biography. 9-11)Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3713-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
Still, for armchair tourists, a broad if rosy picture of our neighbor to the north.
Arrays of small color photos, cartoons and occasional comic-book pages provide visuals for a young traveler’s lively if superficial account of a quick province-by-province drive across Canada.
Bowers’ travelogue is similar in tone and content but aimed at a younger audience than her Wow Canada (2010) (and proceeds east to west before looping north, rather than the reverse). She takes her 9-year-old narrator to cities, roadside attractions and natural wonders from Cape Spear to Iqaluit. The child's observations are interspersed with side comments (“We walked around the lake until the mosquitoes had sucked all our blood”) and brief info-dumps from tour guides, a fact-loving little cousin and others. Simplification leads to some misinformation (no, the West Edmonton Mall is not the “world’s biggest,” nor is it strictly accurate to claim that Lake Michigan is “the only [great] lake not in Canada”). Ultimately and unfortunately, readers will come away knowing much more about regional foods (“Tried eating haggis. Big mistake”) and other artifacts of European settlement than newer immigrant populations or even, until the chapter on Nunavut, First Nations.
Still, for armchair tourists, a broad if rosy picture of our neighbor to the north. (maps, index) (Nonfiction. 9-11)Pub Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-77049-255-4
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
