Brainstorm 352: Food Brings People Together

This week’s Brainstorm features several stories in which food brings people from a variety of different cultural backgrounds together. They celebrate the ways in which food can strengthen community and cross language/culture barriers. My full summary and review of each book including any content notes/trigger warnings is down below for those who don’t have access to GoodReads.

FULL SUMMARY/REVIEWS

Dumplings for Lili by Melissa Iwai

Lili and Nai Nai are making bao when Nai Nai realizes they are out of cabbage to line the steamer. She sends Lili up to ask Babcia for some cabbage which sets Lili off on all sorts of errands for the grandmothers in the building borrowing ingredients from each other for their cultural version of dumplings, from pierogis to Jamaican beef patties to tamales and fatayer and ravioli.

The best part of this story is that it is entirely believable. I can just see a little girl staying with her grandma, the elevator being out of order, and she is sent on a chain of missions up and down and up and down the stairs to get ingredients to all the busy, cooking grandmothers. I really appreciate that though Lili is obviously tired as this goes on, she doesn’t complain and she is always kind and respectful to the grandmas. This story was a clever way to compare different dumpling foods from around the world.

Hot Pot Night by Vincent Chen

A group of neighbors comes together to make hot pot for dinner. Told in simple, rhyming text.

This is a fairly simple book, but it celebrates neighbors sharing food and community. The rhyme is well done. The font is nice and large so easier for developing eyes to read. And most of the text would be easy for beginning readers to sound out since it primarily involves hot and pot. There's a little paragraph about what hot pot is and where it came from in the back as well as a recipe. Do not read this on an empty stomach, or at least make sure you have some ingredients for hot pot if you do. :) This would be great to read as a compare/contrast with a Stone Soup folk tale. It very much reads like a modern community version of that, minus any mention of a stone. (Note: I wrote that about Stone Soup off the top of my head and then I went to catalog the book and the cataloging summary for the book calls it a version of the Stone Soup tale too so I guess I was on to something there.)

Luli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang, ill. by Hyewon Yum

At the daycare provided for parents learning English, a group of multicultural children who don’t share a common language are all playing by themselves. Luli was sad the first day and came prepared for the second day. She brought tea. And as she says the Mandarin word for tea and offers it to the other children, their similar words for the beverage and common tea-drinking cultural practices bring all the children together and breaks down barriers.

The author explains in the back of the book that the word for tea is very similar across languages because the word was taken along with the product to different countries centuries ago. Different cultures may prepare it differently, but the practice is common in a number of countries all over the world. The words for tea in each country's most common language is used in the story (and phonetically spelled out too). The back of the book talks about the countries represented and how people there like to typically drink their tea. The countries represented in the book are China, Morocco, Chile, Iran, India, Turkey, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and Germany. This is a sweet tale about finding common ground for friendship despite language barriers.

My Fine Fellow by Jennieke Cohen

Under Queen Charlotte's reign, in England in the 1830s certain occupations have been opened up for women. One of them is becoming a Culinarian, a chef at the pinnacle of the food scene. Helena Higgins and Penelope Pickering are in their final years at Culinarian school. Penelope is doing her final project on food from the Americas since she just returned from traveling there with her parents. Helena is yet to land on a project that is challenging enough for her tastes. But then the two young women taste street peddler Elijah Little's empanadas and are intrigued by the flavors. Helena proclaims she could train him up to be fine enough to own his own shop some day, and doesn't think much more of it. But when he shows up at her house the next day for this training, she realizes this could be the most stunning final year project. And getting him skilled enough for his own shop is too little for Helena, she wants to pass him off as a Culinarian himself before royalty. Penelope is a little worried. She considers Helena a dear friend, especially since her half-British/half-Filipina heritage doesn't seem to phase her, but she knows Helena takes some getting used to and doesn't have the best people skills. Will Elijah survive her tutelage? As for Elijah, he knows this is his best chance for a step up in life but he's worried what would happen if Helena or Penelope learn that he's Jewish.

In case you didn't figure it out, this is a My Fair Lady rewrite focused on cooking skills more than diction (though Elijah also gets some lessons in passing as a gentleman). Cohen had a lot of fun reimagining various aspects of the musical's plot line in this new scenario. I really, really enjoyed it. I felt like it honored the musical but also created something delightfully new as well. The time period is an imaginary one. Princess Charlotte was a real person in line for the British throne, but she didn't live long enough to become queen. So this imagines what might have happened if she did live to be Queen instead of Victoria. (There's an author's note about this.) It gives the author freedom to reimagine some bits of women's rights in England. But there are some aspects that are kept true to the Victorian age, like the racism and prejudice of many people at that time. Both Penelope's mixed racial heritage and Elijah's Jewish roots allow the story to explore topics of racial prejudice, and it does so tactfully and honorably, in a way that addresses what needs to be talked about but also doesn't bog down the flow of the story or feel jolting to the tone. It definitely deserves that Sydney Taylor honor. Overall, this is a very fun read for My Fair Lady fans, foodies, cute romance fans, multicultural cast fans, and reimagined history fans.

Notes on content: No language issues that I remember. No sexual content beyond a kiss. No violence. There's some racist and unthoughtful comments, but as mentioned, they are addressed well.

Brainstorm 351: Mythical Horse Reads for the Year of the Horse

This week’s Brainstorm has some of those more mythical horse stories for the Year of the Horse I didn’t include in last week’s Brainstorm. There are tons of unicorn stories out there, but I also tried to include some lesser known horse-like mythical creatures like merhorses, night mares, kelpies, and fireborn. (The Pegasi books I know of didn’t make the cut, but there are several out there.) Like last week, if you would like to read my full reviews for any of the titles and don't have a GoodReads account, I'm pasting those full reviews including any content notes/trigger warnings at the bottom of this post.

FULL SUMMARIES/REVIEWS

Margaret's Unicorn by Briony May Smith

Margaret and her family have moved to a new house to be closer to Gran. The move is rough for Margaret, but while out exploring the hills on her first day she finds a baby unicorn that was left behind when the rest of the herd migrated. With her Gran's instructions and the rest of her family's help, Margaret cares for the unicorn throughout the fall and winter until his family returns in the spring. And he may be just what Margaret needs to help with this transition.

A sweet and whimsical story about changes and how helping others can often get us through rough personal emotional times. The illustrations are delightful. I like how the story flips the usual anticipation for spring into Margaret wanting the fall and winter to last as long as possible as she relishes the cold weather time she has with the unicorn before his family returns. Briony May Smith does such a good job of transporting readers into Margaret's slightly magical world in mountains of the UK.

Merhorses and Bubbles (Zoey & Sassafras, #3) by Asia Citro, ill. by Marion Lindsay

Zoey is excited to go look for insect nymphs in the stream, but when she goes to look she can't find any of the mayfly or caddisfly nymphs she usually sees. Then Pip, a magical frog comes to let Zoey's mom know that the merhorses are suffering from a strange affliction. They have burning eyes and skin rashes. Zoey and her mom test the water and find out it is being polluted by a kind of soap. But where is the soap coming from, and can they stop it?

The source of the pollution in this will be an eye-opening peak into a real life potential environmental hazard readers can help prevent. I like that Zoey's mom lets her help do real tests on the water to see what is going on. The illustrations found throughout the book are very cute, and help bring the story to life. They also, combined with the larger than normal font, make this a very quick read. Hand this to beginning readers who love mythical creatures and are wannabe scientists.

Of Fire and Ash (The Fireborn Epic, #1) by Gillian Bronte Adams

As war comes to Soldonia, traitors arise, unlikely heroes find courage, and those who don't feel like they deserve a second chance may see a second and a third.

Ceridwen has been disowned by her father since her ambition to capture a fireborn got her brother killed. Now she works with her fireborn, Mindar, to redeem herself by putting her life on the line as an outrider to stave off the attacks of the invading Nadaari threatening to overwhelm her father's kingdom. She's been partnered with Finnian who is a shadowrider. She can't wait to shake him, his horse, or his wolf. She works better alone.

Rafi has already died a couple times. He used to be a prince, but now he's just a fisherman living on the coast trying to forget his troubled past. But when trouble and his past are coming for him.

Jakim is a freed slave who survives a shipwreck only to find himself in shackles once again. He's the translator for the invading Nadaari's scientist/inventor who knows he can bring this invasion to a quick conquest if they will only listen to him. Jakim would think all hope is lost, if not for the prophecy his sister game him long ago that he would bring freedom to his people.

I read the first chapter of this a while ago and put it down, and now I'm kicking myself. This is my favorite YA/adult fantasy read of the year so far! I gave up way too quickly. This was marvelous! Gillian Bronte Adams has thought out a fantasy adventure that is epic in scale and scope and characters, and she's done a marvelous job with it. I like all the fantasy horses with super capabilities (some breath fire, some can melt into shadows, some basically are hard as rock, some can fly and cause storms, and some can melt into water). And I felt like all different voices were distinct and so interesting in all their different background stories. They all have different issues and challenges to face, which allows the book to explore a number of themes. By the end of this book the main characters were starting to cross paths somewhat. Jakim's story is somewhat inspired by Joseph's story in the Bible, but there are plenty of unique aspects. I didn't notice any other inspired parts other than maybe the Nadaariians being inspired by the Roman empire, and overall the book feels exceedingly imaginative and unique. And the world building is absolutely phenomenal. I can't wait to return to this world in book two! (And things end on a bit of cliffhanger so it can't come soon enough.) This is marketed a bit as YA which is probably because some of the main characters we follow around are teenagers, but the plot is definitely sophisticated enough to be marketed as adult.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content beyond a kiss. There's a lot of battles, fighting, injuries, death, and accidents. Some of the injuries and fatalities are somewhat described including an arm being cut off and a beheading (more emotionally described than physically). There is a lot of death and dying, but the author treats it with an appropriate seriousness and it isn't there just for shock factor, it drives in the seriousness of the conflict and you can feel how the characters long for peace and an end to the war.

Once upon a Unicorn by Lou Anders

In a magical land ruled by Titania the Fairy Queen, night mares and unicorns are mortal enemies. But when Midnight the night mare sees kelpies trying to drown Curious the unicorn, she decides to prove that night mares are better than unicorns by helping save him. After the unexpected rescue, the two find out they were both chasing the same wispy wood wink. Curious wants to do some experiments with the blue magic. Midnight wants to see if eating it will help her get better control of her fire. And they have a bit of a disagreement as to who gets the wispy wood wink. They need to settle their argument, get Curious back to the unicorn side of the river, and deal with a sinister fairy who has his own plans for them.

This was a very fun fantasy that introduces some lesser-seen fantasy creatures and some interesting unicorn mythology. I like the message that what makes something beautiful or good isn't how they look. I also like seeing two characters who've been told all their lives that they should be enemies realizing that maybe the borders should be brought down, their differences aren't that big, and being friends has great worth. The bad guy in this is a bit creepy if you have a good imagination (mythical creature based on a certain character in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" but WAY scarier) so know who you hand this to and whether they can handle the few scenes with the baddy. Anders employed a unique, quirky, humorous voice for the narration, and there's some really fun wordplay (this would make a great read aloud but then you'd miss some of the word play stuff). I am going to have to hunt down more of his middle grade stuff. I'm quite pleased that this is a unicorn story that isn't necessarily "girly" and should be enjoyable for all fantasy adventure fans. My favorite part was the writing.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Violence is threatened by some nasty creatures, the kelpies threaten to drown characters and others aren't very nice, but no one is permanently hurt.

Brainstorm 350: Horse Reads for Year of the Horse

The Brainstorm is back after a break for the new year. I hope your 2026 is off to a great start. As the Lunar New Year approaches, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share some horse stories. Everyone's familiar with National Velvet, Black Beauty, and those from the Queen of horse stories, Marguerite Henry's books (like Misty of Chincoteague and Justin Morgan Had a Horse). So we're venturing beyond the horse stories everyone's familiar with and sharing some maybe you haven't heard of. I'm also focusing just on realistic/historical fiction or true horse stories, and I'm saving the slightly more magical horses for another time. It appears that GoodReads is now requiring a sign-in to view reviews, so if you would like to read my full reviews for any of the titles and don't have a GoodReads account, I'm pasting those full reviews including any content notes/trigger warnings at the bottom of this post.

FULL SUMMARIES/REVIEWS

Hello, Horse by Vivian French, ill. by Catherine Rayner

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A little boy meets Catherine, a nice lady who introduces him to Shannon the horse. Catherine shows him how she cares for Shannon and then takes the little boy on his first horse ride.

A simple introduction to horses and horseback riding for kids. There are little strings of additional text on several pages telling readers about various aspects of horses and equine equipment. The illustrations are beautiful and match the calming sense to the story as the boy's nervousness about riding are allayed in meeting Shannon and learning things from Catherine. A great read for any child who is about to go horseback riding for the first time or horse lovers.

Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum by Dr. Seuss, ill. by Andrew Joyner 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Seuss gives a history of art and tour of art styles by looking at the many ways people have created artwork about horses and the various things the horses can symbolize in those pieces. The book uses famous pieces of artwork that feature horses to introduce children to symbolism in art and the main art styles.

Make sure you read the back of the book to learn more about each individual piece of art featured, as well as how they found this unpublished Seuss book. It seems that Seuss did an art history TV show and this was based on that script. I'd heard several people say they were disappointed in this book, but I'm guessing that's because it is so different from most of Seuss' other things. If you pick this up expecting an art history lesson, it's quite creative and a great way to introduce kids to famous art styles.

A Horse Named Sky by Roseann Parry, ill. by Kirbi Fagan

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sky is a wild mustang born in the Nevada Territory in 1856. We follow him and his herd as he grows, and then discover how he ends up a horse in the Pony Express.

There aren't a whole lot of books on the Pony Express around any more. This brings it to life from the horse's perspective. It was also really interesting to learn that the current location of Reno, Nevada used to be a wetlands and was dramatically changed by the silver mining in the area. It was also sobering to learn about the laws in early California that allowed people to kidnap Native peoples and make them slaves as young as 3 years old and this law wasn't repealed until several decades into the 20th century! (Make sure you read the extensive back matter to read about this and other things that are hinted at from Sky's perspective but further explained later for readers.) Parry has a decided bias to the tale, in that Sky wants to be free and chafes at life under the humans and constantly looks for a way to escape. He thinks the horses happy living with humans are delusional. So those who work with horses or ride horses may not all find this their favorite read. I did appreciate the way Parry wrote the voice and the history covered that I haven't read about anywhere else.

Notes on content:

Language: None

Sexual content: None

Violence: A human shoots an attacking wild predator. One of the riders is mean, and one of the station masters has a child slave and beats him at one point. An animal is whipped and teased by humans. Two animals die.

Ethnic diversity: White men and Native Americans.

LGBTQ+ content: None specified

Other: Child slavery. Trapping of wild animals. Mining devastates a habitat.

The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis by Elizabeth Letts

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A look at the Nazi plan for the Lipizzaners and other thoroughbred horses in Poland, Germany and Austria, and the men instrumental in keeping them safe through a war many other people and animals did not survive.

I'm always wary of these animal histories, as sometimes they can seem to go a bit overboard on either singing the praise of the animal to the point you think they can fly and talk, or the history lauds them to the point of making humans seem like pond scum. This did a great job in balancing those out. It did talk about the extraordinary training of the Lipizzaners in the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, but it does not overestimate their value to society. And the author uses the Nazi treatment of horses to point out how upside down some of their values were when horses got padded and spacious train compartments while at the same time humans were being shipped in overcrowded and horrible conditions. So the horse rights actually serve to point out how grossly skewed human rights were at the time. The author also discusses how the Nazi views on pure blood were influenced by horse breeding philosophy and vice versa. And the stories of how the horses were moved around to be kept safe are infused and often taken over (in a good way) by the stories of men who wanted to do something kind and peaceful in a time of so much violence. You meet some very interesting men from both sides in this. The Austrian leader of the Spanish Riding School, a German Czech resident, the German put in charge of horses for the Nazis, some Poles who were in charge of the major Polish thoroughbred farm, and Americans instrumental in the rescue of horses from the Russians (the Russians primarily viewed horses as a food source by this point). It was particularly amazing how the American commander in the right place at the right time to rescue one of the major groups of horses near the end of the war from the encroaching Russians was a former calvary man, huge horse lover, and close friend of Patton and knew the General was also a huge horse lover. (I learned several things about Gen. Patton from this that I'd never heard before, including his polo expertise, his olympic experience, and how he died. How is it I've read dozens of books about WWII and this is the first to include Patton's death?) The book also gives an interesting history lesson on the role of horses in war and society in general and how WWII was a drastic turning point. A fascinating history, that yes, is going to be most popular with horse lovers, but loving horses is not necessarily a precursor to reading this. It should appeal to anyone interested in history. There are some horsy and riding details, but not so many that I got lost or bored. And I'm not a horse person. Any knowledge I have of them or riding is thanks to my sister who has the equine science degree, but even my secondhand knowledge is flimsy. And yet I survived this just fine and enjoyed the read.

Notes on content: Quotes of Patton include some of his trademark "colorful" language. That's pretty much the only swearing. No sexual content. There are a few deaths on page in the war, both human and animal. The deaths are not overly graphic in description.

Poppy the Police Horse by Gavin Puckett, ill. by Tor Freeman

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Poppy may be blind, but she is a horse with an exceptional sniffer. PC Smith knows that Poppy would be a great addition to the police force. But once Poppy gets settled in her cozy new digs at the police station she doesn't want to do anything. Will the thieves get away, or will Poppy decide to put her lazy ways behind her?

It may end a teensy bit preachy, but the illustrations are quite fun. And on top of that the entire multi-chapter book is told in well done rhyme! Hand this to kids who like detective animals, and well done rhyming.

Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero by Patricia McCormick ill. by Iacopo Bruno

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The true story of an abandoned little horse who did mighty things for US troops in the Korean War, and was instrumental in helping them win a major victory.

It sounds like this little horse was part goat. She'd eat anything! Poker chips?! But her big appetite helped make it easy to train her and she was super instrumental in some big battles. It is an amazing and mostly humorous true animal story. McCormick keeps the gory war details minimal for kids too (a little blood shown but it is just a little and no big wounds or dead soldiers or anything like that shown). If you're looking for something about the Korean War or true animal stories, this would be a good pick. Don't miss the author's note with some more info about Reckless in the back.