Delicious and nutritious.
A brimming bowlful of appreciation for many of the kinds of soup associated with diverse countries and cultures.
This savory companion to Teatime Around the World (2020) touches down first in Thailand for a taste of spicy hot tom yum goong. Waissbluth then spoons out tributes to 19 more soups, from the widely served likes of Spanish gazpacho and Mexican (originally Aztec) pozole to a sweet Christmas fruit soup known in Finland as sekahedelmäkeitto and Australian pie floater (a mixture of meat pie and pea soup often served with a squirt of ketchup on top; it’s rooted, the author frankly acknowledges, in British colonialism). Her focus is mainly localized, though she does note that chicken soup, despite being sometimes called “Jewish penicillin,” has actually been “a favorite for ages, from ancient Greece to China.” Rather than provide full recipes, she tallies enough common ingredients and flavorings to convey a taste of each entry’s distinctive character, with a comment or two about historical or cultural connections for extra flavor. O’Byrne underscores the inclusive spirit with scenes of broadly diverse groups large and small, in mixes of modern and traditional dress, happily slurping away in a range of public and private settings. The author and illustrator each close with a favorite recipe. “Soup’s on. / Time to eat. / A world of flavors, / where friends meet.”
Delicious and nutritious. (afterword) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781778401671
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Formulaic but not stale…even if it does mine previous topical material rather than expand it.
A guide to better behavior—at home, on the playground, in class, and in the library.
Serving as a sort of overview for the series’ 12 previous exercises in behavior modeling, this latest outing opens with a set of badly behaving dinos, identified in an endpaper key and also inconspicuously in situ. Per series formula, these are paired to leading questions like “Does she spit out her broccoli onto the floor? / Does he shout ‘I hate meat loaf!’ while slamming the door?” (Choruses of “NO!” from young audiences are welcome.) Midway through, the tone changes (“No, dinosaurs don’t”), and good examples follow to the tune of positive declarative sentences: “They wipe up the tables and vacuum the floors. / They share all the books and they never slam doors,” etc. Teague’s customary, humongous prehistoric crew, all depicted in exact detail and with wildly flashy coloration, fill both their spreads and their human-scale scenes as their human parents—no same-sex couples but some are racially mixed, and in one the man’s the cook—join a similarly diverse set of sibs and other children in either disapprobation or approving smiles. All in all, it’s a well-tested mix of oblique and prescriptive approaches to proper behavior as well as a lighthearted way to play up the use of “please,” “thank you,” and even “I’ll help when you’re hurt.”
Formulaic but not stale…even if it does mine previous topical material rather than expand it. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-36334-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Though the focus on sugar is apparent, an underlining theme of balancing nutrition with exercise rounds out the...
A risk of family diabetes prompts Tía Sofía to teach her nieces and nephews about alternatives to sugar when choosing meals and snacks.
Ten-year-old Tito and his cousins enjoy spending weekends at their aunt’s house, playing board games and watching television. On this weekend, Tía Sofía tells the family that everyone must help Tito eat healthier to avoid developing diabetes like his grandfather and uncle. To do this, they must eliminate as much hidden sugar as possible and eat natural sugars such as those in fruits. Under their aunt’s guidance, the children spend the day analyzing all their meals. They learn, for example, that ketchup and relish include sugar, but fresh tomato and homemade salsa on a hamburger can be healthier and just as delicious. At day’s end, they are surprised with an apple turnover, sans sugar but made with cinnamon, that holds its natural delicious sweetness simply from the juice of the apples. Latino family scenes painted in gouache on textured paper are populated by amiable, brown-skinned characters who seem to enjoy the challenge presented to them. The weekend concludes with the only acceptable sugar treat, a sweet kiss from Tía Sofía.
Though the focus on sugar is apparent, an underlining theme of balancing nutrition with exercise rounds out the purpose-filled story told with a fluent dual English and Spanish text. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55885-702-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
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