April 2023 Prime Picks

The Culinary Corner

These new arrivals from Kyle Books should be considered essential for any authoritative culinary library.

Anna Boglione's Recipes to Reconnect: Food and Conversations to Re-Establish the Relationship Between Nature, Food and Self, With Recipes from Petersham Chefs and Beyond (9780857839961, $39.99) is more than a cookbook of seasonal recipes. It's a conversation about environment.

Recipes to Reconnect features some 50 recipes from Boglione's own cooking and fellow Petersham chefs, arranged by seasons and created in a response to conversations with farmers, conservationists, and nutritionists.

This personal touch explores Boglione's connection to each chef and the creations that come from farmed and forged bounty. Jeremy Lee, for example, is profiled for his love of good produce and support of nose-to-tail food, supporting this with recipes for Wild Rabbit, Cider & Thyme Stew with Wild Garlic Polenta and Pulses & Grains with Nettle, Spinach & Wild Garlic.

Emma Hollingsworth's Vegan Chocolate Treats: 100 Easy Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free and Refined-Sugar-Free Recipes (9781914239564, $22.99) offers a range of chocolate-based treats that support the vegan lifestyle, profiling recipes that are easy to create at home with a minimum of effort or special ingredients.

Vegans who thought they had set aside fudge, for example, will find The Real Deal Cornish Chocolate Fudge inspired by traditional fudge-making, but with adjustments that include oat milk, cacao butter, and coconut sugar.

Chocolate Coconut Cheesecake Jars are loaded with appeal. They are portable for picnics and easy to make, including walnuts and ground almonds, cacao powder, and maple syrup.

Crystelle Pereira's Flavor Kitchen: Vibrant Recipes with Creative Twists (9781914239793, $29.99) features sweet and savory dishes in a cookbook that uses international influences to create zesty, innovative new dishes.

Chapters organize this fare into inviting subjects. One example is a section on 'Comfort Food & Curries,' which contains such dishes as Garbzano Bean & Potato Curry and the author's own favorite Soy & Herb Roast Chicken. Her introductions for each dish explain why it is exceptional, showing how many of the dishes were inspired and put together.

Color photos throughout these books lend to their appeal and attraction to a wide audience.

Broke Vegan One Pot
Sam Dixon
Aster/Octopus Publishing
9781783255382 $14.99
www.octopusbooksusa.com

Broke Vegan One Pot: Over 200 Simple Plant-Based Recipes That Don't Cost the Earth fills a gap in vegan cooking literature by creating dishes not from expensive specialty substitutes, but everyday supermarket staples.

This both simplifies the process of vegan cooking and supports its attention to flavorful dishes that don't break the bank.

Options include Plantain With Spicy Red Peppers and Tomato Rice, inspired by West African flavors and influences which feature curry powder and vegetables, and a Roast Cauliflower Bake made with oat milk and flavored with tahini and lemon.

Color photos add appeal to a delicious variety of fare, which is featured in a cookbook far more accessible to average cooks than the usual vegan production.

Reviewer's Choice

Disney Press
www.disneybooks.com

Two exceptional new titles from Disney Press should be considered 'must have' acquisitions for any collection strong in histories of Disney's world and its development.

Arts and general-interest libraries will find John Baxter, Bruce C. Steele, and the Staff of the Walt Disney Archives have done an outstanding job in The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder (9781368061940, $60.00).

A rich blend of biographical sketches of Disney's vision and its creations and growth over the decades lends to a book packed with illustrations and entertaining, revealing facts about how Disney brought many of his dreams to life.

Walt Disney: An American Original by Bob Thomas (9781368083966, $29.99) features commemorative essays by Christopher Miller, Jeff Kurtti, Marcy Carriker Smothers, and Rebecca Cline as it surveys Disney's life.

Other books have attempted the same, but Walt Disney: An American Original is backed by the approach of a respected Hollywood biographer who conducted years of research to delve behind the Disney legend.

The story of how Disney evolved into a creative spirit whose visions produced an empire is especially intriguing, as is this Commemorative Edition featuring new, rare photos and commentary by major writers who hold unique and original insights on Disney's nature and achievements.

Both are very highly recommended for any authoritative Disney collection and many a general-interest library.

Drawing with Squiggles & Wiggles
Christopher Hart
Union Square & Co.
9781684620586 $16.99
www.unionsquareandco.com

While it's tempting to consider Drawing with Squiggles & Wiggles: Create 100+ Cartoons with Fun Shapes! a children's book because of its focus on cartoons, all ages interested in cartoon drawing will find this beginner's focus on drawing invites newcomers to the art to try their hand.

A step-by-step approach follows the development of simple shapes into art, creating cartoons that draw both children and budding adult artists to learn the craft.

An exceptional ease is fostered by connecting simple squiggles and shapes into an appealing cartoon result that makes it easy for aspiring artists to hone their craft.

In Search of Wild Silk
Karen Selk
Schiffer Books
9780764364976 $39.99
www.schifferbooks.com

In Search of Wild Silk: Exploring a Village Industry in the Jungles of India should be in not only arts holdings, but libraries strong in social issues, business, and the intersection between artesian production and its global marketing.

It focuses on a village industry that moved from India's jungles to worldwide attention, exploring the various ways in which artists became employed in ventures that made the most of their cultural influences, artistic representations, and economic endeavors.

It covers the basics about how pay structures work ("Weavers are paid according to the length of cloth and complexity of the design") and how supplies and productions are brought to market in unusual ways. Cocoon banks are one example for their importance to silk production, and are used by commercial reelers in Palasbari, Assam. In this instance, the Weavers Cooperative Society of Sualkuchi purchases the silk yarn from Palasbari and turns it into finished productions.

With its close examination of all facets of production, art creation, marketing, and inspiration, this beautiful exploration, packed with color photos, is inviting and nicely detailed.

There is nothing quite like it in print, making In Search of Wild Silk a unique acquisition highly recommended for a range of libraries.

My Pawsome Dog and Me Journal
Charlie Ellis
Summersdale/Octopus Publishing
9781800074194 $14.99
www.summersdale.com

My Pawsome Dog and Me Journal: Celebrate Your Dog, Map Its Milestones and Track Its Health and Well-Being promotes a form of documentation which is both inviting and lively. It is especially recommended for creative writers who own dogs.

The journal opportunity is presented in sections that encourage readers to document their dog's physical and mental development. These sections also offer tips and information on animal care that will enlighten all ages.

The result is an invitation to not only document a pet's well-being and habits, but a celebrate a dog's presence in daily life in a way that will also serve as a keepsake as time passes.

Young Adult/Children

All in a Day
Chihiro Takeuchi
Berbay Publishing
9781922610546
www.berbaybooks.com

All in a Day follows a family's routine from seven in the morning, when grandma is having breakfast with her friends and the baker's been baking for hours, to the opening hours at various businesses after 10AM.

An interactive format invites kids to count clocks, locate animals and images in the pictures, and do basic math to compute a variety of scenarios, from how many people are celebrating to which friends and animals have retired for bedtime.

The appealing combination of counting and visual skills encourages kids and read-aloud parents to participate in educational observation in a picture book highly recommended for elementary-level libraries and read-aloud pursuits alike.

Apple Pie Picnic
Alicia Duran and Brian Fitzgerald
Red Comet Press
9781636550619 $18.99
www.redcometpress.com

In Apple Pie Picnic, Rosa and her familia are celebrating el manzano, the apple tree that grows near the house where Rosa lives.

The injection of Spanish words throughout the story adds educational value to the tale of a little girl who appreciates the seasonal attractions of an apple tree as it provides warmth and changes helpful to children, cats, and family endeavors.

Picture book libraries looking for a largely English story punctuated by Spanish words will find Apple Pie Picnic an attractive tale.

Benny the Bananasaurus Rex
Sarabeth Holden
Inhabit Media
9781772274424 $17.95
www.inhabitmedia.com

Benny the Bananasaurus Rex is a fun picture book story that melds bananas and dinosaur antics in an unusual manner.

Emma Pedersen's whimsical, colorful illustrations shine as Benny tackles his extreme love of bananas and his voracious ability to include them in virtually every meal.

Kids who love particular foods will relate to Benny's story of his insatiable appetite for bananas, reveling in the fantasy and fun of a tale that lends particularly well to read-aloud attraction.

Candlewick Press
www.candlewickpress.com

These new picture books are lovely recommendations for libraries and parents seeking read-aloud fun.

Eco-Girl by Ken Wilson-Max (9781536228090, $17.99) tells of young Eve, who lives next to a forest and loves the baobab trees in particular. Her pleasure and appreciation is heightened by her grandmother's gift of a baobab seedling, which she plants.

Having her own tree to nurture is a family tradition that lives on in the young, providing moments of closeness with family and nature that picture book readers will find engaging and thought-provoking.

Aaron Becker's The Tree and the River (9781536223293, $18.99) is set in another time and world, and tells of a mighty tree on a river that oversees the changes around it.

As a family farm turns into a town and growing industry, the long-lived tree witnesses rituals and a reshaping of nature that threatens to change its environment.

The lovely wordless picture book reinforces a powerful message.

Eoin McLaughlin's I Am Not an Octopus (9781536225051, $18.99) receives whimsical and colorful embellishments by Marc Boutavant as it tells of a "regular guy" who just happens to have some extra limbs and a love of tuna.

Terry doesn't live in the ocean, either. In fact, his entire life seems to revolve around denying his identity.

Is he boy, or octopus?

A fun story follows Terry's efforts to test his boundaries and abilities.

Camilla de la Bedoyere's Birds Everywhere (9781536229738, $17.99) is illustrated by best-selling artist Britta Teckentrup, whose colorful approach captures the lovely soaring birds of the world in living color.

This celebration of birds offers fine contrasts between disparate types of birds, from flightless to flying, and those who live in very different environments.

The result is a history of birds that is colorful, lively, and fact-filled. Birds Everywhere is the perfect item of choice for elementary-level library collections seeking a combination of entertainment value and natural history lesson.

All are excellent choices for libraries and adults seeking outstanding books for kids.

City Beet
Tziporah Cohen
Sleeping Bear Press
9781534112711 $18.99
www.sleepingbearpress.com

City Beet is the fun story of a community potluck and a beet that first needs to be grown for the salad dish.

Victoria and her elderly neighbor join forces to tend the beet, which grows until harvest day. The only problem is that the giant beet refuses to be pulled from the ground.

Can the two still contribute their special salad to the potluck?

This lovely tale of community efforts and cooperation will prove a particularly effective read-aloud for parents seeking to instill the basics of gardening, problem-solving, and working together in the very young listener.

Food for Hope
Jeff Gottesfeld
Creston Books, LLC
9781954354241 $18.99
www.crestonbooks.co

Food for Hope will reach picture book readers ages 7-12 with its lively story of how John van Hengel started the world's first food bank in 1967, prompting a network of such banks through the Feeding America program.

The concept of feeding the hungry with food that would otherwise be wasted is illustrated in a combination of lively history and colorful illustrations by Michelle Laurentia Agatha which bring to life the effort and people who connect through such programs.

Libraries seeking social issues and historical reviews for picture book readers will find Food for Hope a lesson in social reform and activism, creating an inspiring, revealing platform for discussion and empowerment among the very young.

Henry the Snail
Katarina Macurová
Albatros Books
9788000067933 $16.95
www.albatrossbooks.com

Henry the Snail presents the picture book tale of a snail that wants to be like everyone else, but feels he stands out in bad ways.

Much as Henry yearns to be different, there are things he can't change ... and other things he can.

This snail's-eye view of the world and his place in it offers important lessons on willpower, overcoming adversity, and accepting differences that will serve as fine food for thought and discussion between adults and kids.

The inviting story is highly recommended for libraries looking for lessons in positive thinking and diverse approaches to life.

High Top
Tom Lacey
Tiger Tales
9781664300163 $18.99
www.tigertalesbooks.com

High Top: The Sneaker That Just Can't Stop! captures an out-of-the-box zest for life as High Top the sneaker's enthusiasm spills out into the world, trampling those around him who approach life differently.

High Top just can't resist or repress his high-octane approach, but this creates problems for others as well as himself. He doesn't want to be just anyshoe—but how can he stand out without throwing himself to the winds?

Tom Lacey creates an absorbing, whimsical story filled with shoe references, lively interactions, and thought-provoking scenarios that will prompt kids and read-aloud parents to discuss issues of high-energy living and its impact on those around them.

Its fun lessons will appeal on both a contemplative and entertainment level as it features an action-driven series of encounters in which High Top evolves to find a better path to self-satisfaction and life interactions.

The Little Fearless Farm Boy
Astrid Lindgren and Marit Törnqvist
Floris Books
9781782507642 $17.95
www.florisbooks.co.uk

The Little Fearless Farm Boy comes from the creator of the classic Pippi Longstocking books and presents the picture book story of a lovely day in Sweden. However, Goran the bull is filled with fury. Nobody can calm him down, but a little boy may have an unusual solution to Goran's rage.

Marit Törnqvist's colorful drawings bring out the atmosphere and countryside as the story evolves.

Rural life and Sweden come alive in a tale that is perfect for read-aloud discussion about community involvement and problem-solving, with appealing illustrations adding to a story that will especially attract libraries looking for tales set in European nations.

Our Incredible Library Book and the Wonderful Journeys It Took
Caroline Crowe
Floris Books
9781782507513 $17.95
www.florisbooks.co.uk

Our Incredible Library Book and the Wonderful Journeys It Took is a lively celebration of the library book's power to explore new worlds. It benefits from attractive illustrations by John Joseph as it surveys a worn library book that has been read extensively—and shows it.

Rigorous lending activity affects a book that has been lost, torn, and soaked in the rain, but is still much-loved.

The magic of books and reading is captured in a warm celebration of the library book that invites young picture book readers to embrace the appearance and contents of a much-loved book.

Libraries and picture book readers alike will relish Caroline Crowe's special message in this journey into reading and other worlds.

Penguin Random House
www.penguin.com/kids

Shark Princess by Nidhi Chanani (9780593464601 , $12.99) is a color-packed graphic novel about shark Kitana, who is the first princess shark of her kind.

Her best friend, Mack, wants to be a princess too, but he is well aware that he's a different kind of shark, and likely unfit for the position. He's simply too dangerous to be a princess in this water world. Or, is he?

Nidhi Chanani's story illustrates the power of friendship, perseverance, and self-discovery as Mack begins to realize his own strengths during the course of an undersea adventure that lures young readers into the reading world.

It's an original, fun story that kids will love.

Ana Aranda's Our Day of the Dead Celebration (9780525514282, $17.99) explores the rituals and meaning of the Day of the Dead—which sounds morose, but is actually a happy day that many Latin families celebrate.

From going to market to buy sugar skulls and flowers to acknowledging dead relatives, the Day of the Dead's meaning is explored in a lively survey of rituals and family connections that is rich in colorful images and equally potent explanations.

These are excellent choices for discriminating picture book collections.

Simon & Schuster
www.simonandschuster.com

Simon & Schuster's new picture books are delightful stories that draw with powerful illustrations and tales that are entertaining and thought-provoking.

Annie Silvestro and Ramona Kaultzki's Bravo, Little Bird! (9781665906920, $18.99) for ages 4-8 tells of an old man who plays lovely music on the piano.

A little bird listens silently, until she feels she just must join in. This forms a bond between bird and man which is touching, especially when the music seems to stop and Little Bird seeks a way to honor the old man's memory.

Simply gorgeous illustrations bring this story to life.

Anita Lobel's Good Morning, Good Night: A Book of Opposites in the City (9781534465947, $18.99) walks through city life contrasting opposites that are surprisingly thought-provoking.

Consider, for example, the calm ceramic cat in a window versus the fierce live cat chasing his prey outside ... or the thin whistle of a piccolo versus the 'round growls' of a bass in a street band.

Urban delights come to life in a story which profiles very different contrasts in sight, sound, and city life.

Patricia Polacco's Palace of Books (9781534451315, $18.99) tells of how the author's family moves to a new town in Michigan, which doesn't begin to feel like home to her until she discovers its large library and friendly librarian, Mrs. Creavy.

Its doors are always open; but even more importantly, the information she finds there leads her to become the first member of the Audubon bird club at Fremont Elementary.

This lovely exploration of Polacco's childhood experience will bring books and new environments to life for kids who are faced with different worlds and their new opportunities.

Patricia Tanumihardja's Ramen for Everyone (9781665904533, $18.99) is illustrated by Shiho Pate and will reach ages 4-8 with a fine survey of the family tradition of eating ramen on Sundays, using a recipe that has been handed down between fathers.

Hiro dreams of making his own perfect bowl of ramen after watching his father and taking careful notes, but when his efforts go awry, he discovers that cooking isn't as easy as it looks.

The story of creativity, problem-solving, and a wise father's intervention comes to life with lovely drawings and a concept that reinforces family tradition and shared efforts.

Nell Cross Beckerman's When the Sky Glows (9781534450394, $18.99) receives lovely illustrations by David Litchfield as it provides a simple review of sunrises around the world. Atmospheric conditions translate to different, colorful skies, from Hawaii ("which is known as 'the Rainbow State' because the combination of wet weather and sunny skies produces so many rainbows") to how the skies are affected by volcanoes, firefly glow, and meteor showers.

The result is a gorgeous illustration of how the skies change color from different influences which can all be appreciated.

Jeff Newman's The Greedy Worm (9781442471955, $18.99) reaches ages 4-8 with the warm story of a greedy worm whose treasure of an exceptionally big apple is not shared with his bug buddies.

The result is a big slug whose snubbed friends face a hard choice when the greedy worm attracts the wrong kind of attention.

Whimsical illustrations bring this largely-wordless story to life.

Jenna Beatrice's The Loud Librarian (9781655910545, $18.99) receives engaging illustrations by Erika Lynne Jones as it tells of a student librarian who seems perfect for her job—except for one little detail. She is loud. She talks too loudly, thunders through her world, and threatens the library's intrinsic silence.

Penelope still dreams of becoming a librarian, so how can a girl who is "perfect for the job" increase her status without shouting? This fun self-examination will attract any child who has been accused of being too loud.

All are recommended reads for discriminating libraries seeking top works for elementary-level readers.

We Don't Lose Our Class Goldfish
Ryan T. Higgins
Disney Press
9781368076982 $18.99
www.disneybooks.com

We Don't Lose Our Class Goldfish tells of a girl who is scared of Walter, the class goldfish. So when she's tapped to take a turn bringing Walter home for the weekend, the little T. Rex finds herself facing her biggest fear.

The ironic specter of a biting goldfish who frightens a T. Rex student much fun into the underlying message of confronting one's biggest (and littlest) fears, and will provide read-aloud adults with an engaging story backed by winning, unique illustrations.