Warning: The following post features ferocious meat lovers. If you are tender, juicy, or have a tendency to hop, they might eat you. Read at your own risk.
The Lion is King of the Jungle!
The Great White Shark is Sovereign of the Sea!
The Timber Wolf is Emperor of the Forest!
and
this
seemingly normal
book biting
lasagna and sushi lover
who goes by the name of Aaron Reynolds
is
PRINCE OF THE PICTURE BOOK!!
*roar, chomp, howl*
His Royal Meatness
You want proof of the Princely Pudding? Ravenous readers everywhere are gleefully clicking their cuspids and savagely devouring Aaron’s brand new book, Carnivores. Yes, they’re eating it up before it eats them. 🙂
A wise and sensible thing to do, I daresay, because this hilarious story is totally brilliant, darkly delicious, and oh-so-filling. *burp*
It wasn’t enough that back in 2005, Aaron spiced up my ho-hum existence with Chicks and Salsa.No. He got me to wiggle my wattle and actually tolerate football with BuffaloWingsin 2007. Did he stop there? Not a chance.
Last year he terrified me with a bunch of Creepy Carrots, but I’ve since forgiven him because at least now I know the chopped salad I’ve been smelling under my pillow is real.
It’s almost lift off time for Erik Weibel’s very first blog tour for his very first book!!
If you’re a cool reader in the know, you’ve probably been following Erik’s insanely awesome blog, This Kid Reviews Books, which he started when he was just nine. He’s still going strong and defying all expectations at age 11 by publishing The Adventures of Tomato and Pea, Book 1: A Bad Idea, a chapter book for ages 7-10. It’s currently available in both paperback and ebook formats.
Come September 8, Erik will kick off The Official Adventures of Tomato and Pea Blog Tour at This Kid Reviews Books, the first of 15, count ’em, 15 (!) crash landings stops at various blogs in the kidlitosphere.
Here’s a synopsis of Erik’s book:
For years the evil villain Wintergreen had tried to destroy super crime-stopper, Tomato and his sidekick, Pea, and take over planet Oarg. In a plan gone wrong, Wintergreen traps himself along with his arch-nemesis in a runaway rocket ship that crashes on a strange planet called “EAR-TH”. Now these perennial enemies must learn to work together to survive the dangers on this strange world. Hungry birds, enormous snakes and the giant inhabitants of EAR-TH stand between this brawling bunch of aliens and finding a way home.
The Alphabet Soup table is all set to welcome story-scribbler, picture-squiggler, fun-socks-wearer Ben Clanton, whose second self-illustrated picture book, The Table SetsItself(Walker BFYR, 2013), is officially hitting shelves today! WooHoo!
Until I read this charming, whimsical story, I thought I was the only one who had a meaningful relationship with cutlery. I loved reading about how Izzy and her friends Dish, Fork, Knife, Spoon, Cup, and Napkin finally get the chance to set the table themselves. But because they soon tire of being in the same spots day after day, they decide to switch places. Uh-oh.
Is this front endpaper cool or what?
This leads to a few small disasters and a big ooh-la-la adventure for the runaway Dish and Spoon, whose absence turns Izzy into a complete mess because no other plate or spoon will do. How will she get them to return to the table? Generous sprinkles of punny jokes and visual humor (I bet you never knew a cup could lift a cow) make for a rollicking read aloud, and did I mention macaroni and cheese is instrumental in setting things right again?
You’re just in time to enjoy a soul-warming slice of Susan Fillion’s homemade pizza. There’s nothing like a perfect chewy-crisp crust topped with a little crushed tomato, melty mozzarella, black olives and fresh basil, just begging you to take a bite. Delizioso!
Also delicious is Susan’s charming new bilingual picture book, Pizza in Pienza (David R. Godine, 2013), which is about two of her favorite things — pizza, of course, and Pienza, a small town in Tuscany where Pope Pius II was born (he rebuilt Pienza to be an “ideal Renaissance town”).
Susan’s story features a young Italian girl, a resident of Pienza, who is crazy about pizza — so much so, that she decides to find out everything she can about it. She asks her grandmother to teach her how to make it, she scopes out Giovanni, the local pizzaiolo, and she also reads all about the history of pizza at the library. Did you know pizza (as we know it today) most likely originated in Naples, Italy?
An artist and museum educator at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Susan has filled this book with beautiful rustic, folkloric paintings rendered in warm Tuscan browns, crimsons, golds, olives, and blues. I love how her humorous touches (Mona Lisa holding a slice of pizza) gives us a fresh taste of antiquity, blending past and present on a timeless canvas of Italian village life.
Hungry readers will appreciate the added layer of flavor afforded by the Italian translations on every page — two savory bites for the price of one! End matter includes an Author’s Note, Pronunciation Guide, and Susan’s recipe for Pizza Margherita. And did I mention the cool pizza sauce endpapers? Squisito!
We wanted to whet your appetite for their upcoming visit next month and share a few details about their mouthwatering, kid-friendly collection of 70+ recipes — dishes your entire family can enjoy making and eating, whether they have food allergies or not.
Credit: Teddy Wolff/WP Express</em
If you remember when Frances and Ginger stopped by to tell us about their beautifully written, heartfelt memoir (Chocolate Chocolate: The True Story of Two Sisters, Tons of Treats, and the Little Shop That Could,2011), you know that they own Washington, D.C.’s, premier chocolate boutique. Imagine how disheartening it must have been when they discovered that Ginger’s one-year-old son, Justin, had severe food allergies, making it too risky for him to even visit their shop!
When Ginger was pregnant, everyone assumed her child would be the proverbial “kid in a candy store.” Though Justin had to stay far away from chocolate covered peanuts, he did grow up eating a nice variety of tasty, nutritious meals and snacks, thanks to the conscientious, resourceful efforts of his mother and aunt.
Jama's Alphabet Soup 