Monday, December 20, 2010

Soup Day by Melissa Iwai

Maybe I should have posted this one yesterday because I love, love, love it. And I don't even like soup. I mean, I've tried to like soup, and I love the idea of soup, but somehow it never works for me. Anyways.

I want to hug this book. It is so warm and comfy, but sturdy too. It is not precisely a board book, but its pages are sturdier and stiffer than normal picturebooks, kind of a thin cardboard. The simple text is bold and marches strongly across the collaged and colorful illustrations.

On a snowy day, it is soup day. Counting up to six, a little girl and her mother pick out vegetables. Coming home, the vegetables get cut into different shapes. The vegetables cook in the pot and the little girl and her mother play together. Then it's time to add noodles and spices, clean up toys, and Daddy's home and it's soup time!

A recipe for soup is included in the back of the book. There are several reasons I like this story, apart from the endearing text and illustrations. First, I'm pleased to see the depiction of an Asian girl with Caucasian parents. Even in our fairly small, homogeneous community there are quite a few adopted Chinese girls and I have not found many stories that portray these children naturally, without making a huge issue of their adoption. Second, I really like the inclusion of concepts. This is a perfect toddler book and concepts are always good in books for little ones. They like to pause and count and identify. Third...I just really like all the elements together in this book.

Verdict: It's like really good soup - lots of different parts making one yummy whole!


ISBN: 9780805090048; Published September 2010 by Henry Holt; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library

2 comments:

Brimful Curiosities said...

You don't like soup? Really? Not sure you'd survive in our house as homemade soup is a staple here. :)

Jennifer said...

weeeelll, i think i need to experiment more with recipes. i do have some recipes for broccoli cheese soup and mushroom soup i like, i just haven't found a good vegetable soup one. i'm going to try this one and see what it comes out as. also, it's hard to make soup in small enough quantities for one person - or at least i have trouble doing it!