picture books

[review + recipes] V&A Introduces: Beatrix Potter by Katie Woolley and Ginnie Hsu

~ jama ~ 13 Comments

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you. Mine took me here. Where I belong.” ~ Beatrix Potter

Spring is Beatrix Potter time.

Every year as Easter rolls around, I enjoy rereading some of her Peter Rabbit tales and looking for new Potter-related books to add to my growing collection. Happily, there’s always more to learn about this remarkable woman, the world she created via her imagination, and the beautiful countryside she worked so hard to preserve for future generations.

Recently I stumbled upon a charming mini book, the latest title in the popular “V&A Introduces” series that celebrates icons in the world of art and design in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Love the pansies endpaper!

Beatrix Potter: Artist, Conservationist, Pioneer by Katie Woolley and Ginnie Hsu (Puffins Books, 2022), is a beautifully illustrated introduction to Potter’s life and accomplishments that includes original photographs and fascinating backstories to several of her most beloved tales.

Carefully curated facts are presented in twelve sections, giving readers a good sense of how unique Beatrix was as a fully self-realized creative who defied societal convention and attained financial independence:

  • Young Beatrice
  • Writing and Drawing
  • Escape to the Country
  • The Tale of Peter Rabbit
  • The Lake District
  • The Tailor of Gloucester
  • The Businesswoman
  • Hill Top Farm
  • Love & Marriage
  • The National Trust
  • Country Living
  • A Lasting Legacy

Peter Rabbit fans will enjoy learning how Beatrix became a master storyteller. As was typical for a girl from a wealthy Victorian family, she was looked after by a nanny and had lessons with a governess. She inherited a love of art from her parents, got lost in stories, and practiced drawing characters from the books she read.

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[tasty review] The Neighborhood Surprise by Sarah van Dongen

~ jama ~ 7 Comments

Have you ever planned a surprise for someone, only to be surprised in return?

In Sarah van Dongen’s heartwarming debut picture book, The Neighborhood Surprise (Tiny Owl, 2021), kindness, community, diversity, and of course, mouthwatering food – are all on the menu.

Young Koya and her friends, Hassan and Alex, are upset to learn that one of their elderly neighbors, Mrs. Fig, is moving to a retirement home. They love to visit her because she tells them “exciting stories from the past,” sews them cool costumes for dress-up, has the cuddliest pets, and best of all – bakes “the most delicious cookies.”

How can they show her how much they’ll miss her? Koya suggests a surprise goodbye party. They could invite the entire neighborhood for a potluck!

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[perky review] Taxi, Go! by Patricia Toht and Maria Karipidou

~ jama ~ 13 Comments

Good Morning! It’s a brand new day, and everybody in the city has something to do, somewhere to go. Who will help them get there?

Speedy, spunky TAXI, that’s who!

Look, here he is now 😀.

Cabs are resting in a line.
Wake up, Taxi. Rise and shine!
Fill the tank, Check the tires.
Roof light on — now for hire!

Taxi . . . GO!
Get on your way —
today will be a busy day!

In Taxi, Go!, a zippy new rhyming picture book by Patricia Toht and Maria Karipidou (Candlewick, 2024), we follow spiffy red Taxi from morning till night as he transports passengers young and old to a variety of destinations.

After his morning fuel-up, he first picks up a woman who can’t be late for an important business date. Taxi races ahead, weaving left and right through an alley-way as “Heavy rain comes crashing down.” When sirens wail, Taxi has to STOP! for an emergency rescue (cat up a tree).

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[review + giveaway] The Little Books of the Little Brontës by Sara O’Leary and Briony May Smith

~ jama ~ 23 Comments

If there’s one thing I simply can’t resist, it’s a new book about the Brontës. As a longtime fan, I’m endlessly fascinated by them and always eager to learn more.

In The Little Books of the Little Brontës (Tundra, 2023), Sara O’Leary and Briony May Smith show how the love of storytelling and the power of books sustained young Charlotte, Emily, Branwell and Anne after they prematurely lost their mother and two older sisters to illness.

As the story opens, we see Charlotte crafting a small handmade book for her youngest sister Anne. Illustrated with tiny watercolors, the happy-ending tale features Anne as an only child who travels to marvelous places with her rich parents. Real life, however, is quite different.

Living with their father, aunt, and housekeeper Tabatha at the edge of the wild moors, the Brontë children cope with sadness and grief by clinging to each other and creating “a world unto themselves.” Their days are marked by morning lessons and afternoon outdoor wanderings, as their love of stories permeates almost everything they do.

Voracious readers, they devour fiction, poetry, history, geography, fables, the Bible and even the dictionary. “They make up poems as they walk the moors,” invent characters as they work in the kitchen, act out plays at night in bed.

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[chat + giveaway] Emma Bland Smith on The Fabulous Fannie Farmer

~ jama ~ 32 Comments

Today we’re happy to welcome San Francisco author Emma Bland Smith to discuss her latest picture book, The Fabulous Fannie Farmer: Kitchen Scientist and America’s Cook (Calkins Creek, 2024). Charmingly illustrated by Susan Reagan, this engaging, well researched account of Fannie’s professional life as an author, culinary expert and teacher officially hits shelves today and will inspire you to whip up one of Fannie’s recipes. 🙂

Even if you’re unfamiliar with the Fannie Farmer Cookbook (initially published as The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book in 1896), Fannie’s lasting contribution of standardized level measurements is likely part and parcel of your cooking and baking regime. Yes, we have Fannie to thank every time we level off a cup of flour or sugar with a butter knife before adding it to the mixing bowl.

Fannie’s precise, comprehensive recipe instructions included scientific explanations of the chemical processes that occurred in food during cooking, taking away the guesswork and ensuring consistent results.

So who was this woman who revolutionized home cooking, making it accessible to everyone? How did her can-do spirit enable her to pursue her passion for the culinary arts — even opening her own cooking school — after being sidelined from a college education due to polio-related partial paralysis?

And how many can say that their cookbook remains in print 100+ years after it was first published, having sold more than 7 million copies to date?

I know you’ll enjoy hearing lots more from Emma. We thank her for sharing her insights and so many wonderful photos!

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