The Brainstorm 63: 7 Savory Food Reads

This week’s Brainstorm hunts some savory reads. Seven books that celebrate food: whether cooking, baking, investigating, or devouring.

Picture Book Resources

I Really Like Slop! (Elephant & Piggie, #24) by Mo Willems
Piggie really likes slop. Gerald isn't sure he can stand to smell slop. When Piggie offers Gerald some of her precious food, Gerald at first refuses but then decides to be polite and try some. The results are amusing.

I love that Gerald at least tries Piggie's slop in this! He finds a way to be honest about his opinion and tactful too. Parents and teachers will appreciate Gerald's bravery and manners. Kids will love the hilarity of the illustrations.

Activity Tie-ins:

• Etiquette/Disagreeing Civilly/Respecting Others’ Opinions: Gerald and Piggie do a fantastic job in this story of exemplifying how to disagree over something without hurting each other. It is a great lesson for kids when talking about others’ precious tastes in food or other things. Gerald gives Piggie’s opinion a chance, manages to express his own opinion without hurting her feelings about her favorite meal, and they come out of the experience clearly with different thoughts but still good friends. Manners and consideration for others’ feelings goes a long way.
• Honesty with Tact: Gerald does a great job of being both honest and tactful. Have students discuss the difference between telling the truth hurtfully and telling the truth with tact. Why is this important in friendships?
• Picky Eaters: Use Gerald's bravery in this story to challenge picky eaters to at least try that next weird food.
• Prep for Cross-cultural Eating: Whether you’re just heading across the city or venturing across cross the world, this is a great book to talk to little ones about how to approach strange food dishes with bravery and sensitivity to other cultures.
• Funny Read: Mo Willem’s illustrations of Gerald’s face in this book threaten to steal the show with their hilarity. Kids (and adults) should find this a highly entertaining read.

Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds, ill. by Paulette Bogan
The farm animals begin to get a little bored of their normal diets. So, thanks to the farmer's wife's obsession with cooking shows and the rooster's keen eyes, the chickens whip up some salsa, the ducks make guacamole, the pigs scrounge up nachos, and everyone's ready for a fiesta when the farmer and his wife swipe all the ingredients for their own tamales. But never fear, rooster has another idea...

Activity Tie-ins:

• Prediction: There are repetitive elements of this book, and little foreshadowing clues in illustrations that lend this book well to predicting exercises. See if students can predict which animal group will get creative with their food next.
• Pre-Readers: This book has repetitive elements good for youngsters just catching on to the idea of reading. They can get the hang of the pattern and start to “read” the book along with you.
• Mexico/Multicultural Read: For classes studying Mexico or Hispanic culture, this would be a fun book to include, especially as there are recipes in the front and back inside covers for the dishes the farm animals make.
• New Vocabulary: Reynolds employs some creative and varied vocabulary young readers may find new. Go over with students how to approach new words, how to guess what they mean by context, and how to use a dictionary to check their educated guesses.
• Creative Writing: At the end of the book Rooster tries his hand at a different ethnic food. Have students write further adventures of the barnyard culinary crew whipping up their favorite ethnic foods.
• Measuring or Fractions & Cooking: Have your class make some of the dishes and give them hands-on practice with culinary volume measurements or work with fractions as they follow the recipes.
• Biology/Nutrition: The farm animals got bored of eating the same old thing every day. Animals usually don’t have that problem, but humans do. Have students research some of the hazards if humans don’t have enough variety in their diet. The slew of disorders and diseases possible should reinforce the need for a balanced diet.
• Funny Read: The idea of farm animals watching cooking shows is somewhat humorous, and Reynolds milks the humorous elements for all they’re worth. Kids should really enjoy watching the animals whip up the dishes. And of course there’s that twist at the end of the story to enjoy too.

Lower Grade Fiction Resource

Tales for Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider
In a series of short stories we learn that James doesn't like broccoli, or mushroom lasagna, or lumpy oatmeal, or milk, or eggs. Well, that's what he says. But when confronted with the options other than broccoli, or the fate of the troll that makes lasagna, or the consequences of not eating oatmeal or milk, James always seems to find a reason to go ahead and eat the yucky foods anyway.

Activity Tie-ins:

• Picky Eaters: Parents will want to hire James' father (aka a genius child psychologist in disguise I'm sure) to work on their picky eaters. It won’t hurt to try reading this to them to see if they can learn anything from James.
• Psychology: Have students analyze how James’ father is using psychology and why it works.
• Geisel Award: This book won the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award in 2012. The Geisel award is new compared to several other book awards. Have students research what the award is for and why it was named for Dr. Seuss. Can they find other books in the library that are Geisel Award or Honor winners?
• Nutrition: It would be easy to work in a little lesson on nutrition in coordination with reading this story. Let’s say James only wanted to eat pizza or hot dogs for every meal. Why might that be a bad idea? What food do students say they want to eat for every meal? How could that hurt them eventually?
• Compare/Contrast: Read this along with I Really Like Slop! and have students compare and contrast Gerald and James. 
• Humorous Read: This is a good all around pick for lower grade readers looking for a fun read. James’ father can really cook up some fantastic stories and the illustrations are captivating too.

Nonfiction Resources

Ice-Cream Cones for Sale by Elaine Greenstein
Several people claim to be the inventor of the first ice cream cone, but in this book Elaine Greenstein attempts to set the record straight. She separates the facts from the legends surrounding the first creators, and does a splendid job of clearly stating which is which (and when she is just speculating herself). She accompanies this thoroughly engrossing text with fanciful and unique illustrations that are monoprints overpainted with gouache. Kids should eat this up.

Activity Tie-ins:

• Nonfiction Writing: One of the trickiest parts of writing historical essays is clearly separating facts from speculation. Greenstein provides a great model for kids of how to do that well. She clearly states when things are for sure facts and when she’s just guessing based on the evidence available. 
• How to Read Nonfiction: This is also a good opportunity to talk about how to read nonfiction and figure out when an author is just speculating or stating facts, because many are not as clear when writing. What are some words that can clue you into something being speculation? How can you verify a fact?
• History Research: Encourage students to track down the history of other favorite foods. (A good resource for this is The World in Your Lunchbox by Claire Eamer, ill. by Sa Boothroyd.) 
• Art: The art style of this nonfiction picture book is worth a look at for art classes. It isn't a style you come across very often.
• History Read: If you’re looking for a fun nonfiction read for history, this is a good pick. It isn’t too long, and it’s a fascinating little bit of history that still impacts regular life.

The Story of Salt by Mark Kurlansky, ill. by S.D. Schindler
Kurlansky gives kids a whirlwind history of salt's importance on earth, from the ways it determined top empires to how it impacted the diets of civilizations, and even how it permanently changed our vocabulary.

I've read the adult microhistory that Kurlansky boiled down into this picture book. Getting that highly detailed almost 500 page volume summarized into salient points for kids was no mean feat, but Kurlansky managed to do a good job of it. He stayed true to the original purpose while tossing out lots and lots and lots of details that could have lost his younger readers. It's an interesting look at how one little compound has so drastically impacted our world. I love the illustrations in this book to help kids better form a visual image of what is being described as there's several terms or concepts that will be new to most kids.

If you want more details to share with kids about any of the points in this book, I recommend going to the adult version. Each of the points shared here in about one page have numerous chapters in the other book. Both are fascinating.

Activity Tie-ins:

• World History: We take salt for granted today, but it was so rare and valuable in the past it greatly impacted major historical events. Read this with kids if you’re studying the rise and fall of major empires of the past, or if you’re studying food preservation methods.
• Chemistry: A fascinating look at how one little compound can affect the world. The diverse uses of salt beyond just a condiment are covered.
• Vocabulary: Salt has been so important it has snuck into our everyday vocabulary in many ways we don’t realize. This book points out several everyday words that owe their roots to salt.

Graphic Novel Resources

Bake Sale by Sara Vernon
Cupcake and Eggplant are best friends. When Cupcake finds out that Eggplant's family knows the famous pastry chef Turkish Delight, Cupcake is bound and determined to be able to go with Eggplant to visit the family in Turkey. Cupcake quits their band to make extra money. But when Eggplant loses his job, Cupcake decides it's more important for Eggplant to see family, and so Cupcake gives Eggplant a ticket and stays at home. Of course, everyone ends up happy in the end.

Warning: Do Not Attempt to Read When Hungry!!! This is a cute (and mouth-wateringly delicious) story about friendship. You definitely have to put reality on pause when vegetables and pastry goods do things like go to the Turkish Baths and walk out without being turned into steamed mush. But if you can suspend reality and just enjoy the main story about two friends learning what's really important, it is fun. Oh, and all the baked goodies included in the story come with recipes in the back for those who find themselves drooling on the pages.

Activity Tie-ins:

• Friendship & Unselfishness: Cupcake demonstrates an incredible act of friendship by putting Eggplant’s needs in front of his own needs or wants.
• Prioritizing: Cupcake also is a good role model by realizing he can’t do it all. He has to make a tough choice, and chooses the trip to Turkey and making extra money for it, over being in the band. Have students brainstorm examples from their own lives when they’ve had to prioritize or what happened when they didn’t prioritize.
• Math Skills/Direction Following Skills & Baking: Have students practice those math or direction following skills and make some of the recipes in this book.
• Reluctant Readers: Graphic novels are always a great choice for reluctant readers. The pictures help reinforce the potentially tough words, draw the reader in, and make the story zip by.
• Foodie Reads: Some readers are just looking for a book that makes their mouth water and arms them with recipes to fill their tummies. There aren’t tons of graphic novels out there that fill this bill, but there are a few. This is probably the cutest of the lot.

Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman 
Julia Rothman takes you on an informative and captivatingly illustrated tour of all things natural that intrigue her. From the rock cycle to edibles in the woods or garden to critters you're likely to happen on in North America, you get a broad introduction to the natural world around you.

Rothman consulted experts in various fields to help her and she summarizes main points nicely. You do get a little bit of everything from Earth Science and Biology, but it doesn't feel too random. The topics are organized a bit to help with that. I found her field guide sections on plants, fungi, insects, and animals very well done. She highlights things you are most likely to see. The edibles parts along with a few recipes are quite interesting; there were several plants I recognized and had no idea they were edible. (She also does give a healthy warning to make sure you know which plant is which.) This normally wouldn't be the kind of book you just sit down and read, but it is a great resource.

Activity Tie-ins:

• Earth Science: There are several nice charts of seasons and phases of the moon and other natural cycles that could be used in class.
• Biology/Botany:  The guides on plants, animals, fungi and insects could be useful for classes, especially if you’re studying classification systems or if you’re about to take a hike in North America.
• Random Fact Lovers: Have this graphic novel around for those students who like random facts and are always looking for little new tidbits of information. It’s a good book for the curious reader.
• Foodie Reads: The sections on edible wild plants and recipes for them will be of interest to food lovers. But make sure you read her important warning about knowing which plant is which!