a flash of color and light: a biography of dale chihuly

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, with an art history major mom, and as a result I visited a lot of museums and learned about Northwest artists. Dale Chihuly was arguably our most famous local living artist, so I saw a LOT of his glass installations. I have to say that as a younger child they were a bit lost on me – you couldn’t touch or play with them, and they were often mounted far away, or behind plexiglass. As an adult, I’m very proud of Chihuly’s glass, and I recognize it immediately, anywhere I see it around the world – thanks mom! When I saw that there was a picture book biography about Chihuly out from a Seattle publisher, I knew I had to take a look. Author Sharon Mentyka and illustrator Shelley Couvillion's nonfiction picture book A Flash of Color and Light: A Biography of Dale Chihuly is one of the most visually vibrant and beautiful picture books of the year.

 

The first-ever picture book biography of world-renowned glassmaker Dale Chihuly—with stunning watercolor illustrations that reveal the history of the art—for aspiring artists ages 5-9.

Travel along with Dale Chihuly on his life’s journey full of curiosity, discovery, teamwork, and perseverance as he overcomes challenges to become a glass artist of international acclaim.

Dale Chihuly’s early life presented many challenges, such as tragic losses in his family at a young age and an accident that left him blind in one eye, yet his resilience, hard work, and optimism taught him life-long skills that became inseparable from his body of work—incomparable glass creations that provide rich material for the book’s gorgeous illustrations.

In this picture book biography, Mentyka covers the formation, education, and career of Chihuly throughout several decades, and showcases his artistic evolution. She makes a case for Chihuly’s greatness by discussing his artworks, the school he co-founded, and his worldwide fame. However, as you’d expect in a book for children, there is a substantial focus on Chihuly’s younger years, family life, and his first attempts at art. Mentyka’s biography highlights three elements: an ordinary life broken by tragedy, Dale’s fascination with water, and his dedication to glass. In the final pages, Chihuly’s types of glass artworks are identified, a more in-depth biography and family photo from Dale’s childhood and a glassmaking glossary are included, and finally, there’s a timeline of Chihuly’s life events from 1941-2012. The story itself is basic, but the back matter will give young readers a strong starting point to understand one of America’s most talented craftsmen/artists. 

As an adult reading a picture book, I was impressed most by those final pages (after the story concludes), which went into further detail about Chihuly’s life and contribution to art. These pages also prompted me to read more on Chihuly’s own website, and look up photos of his artworks for reference. For children, this book’s art alone will undoubtedly inspire their own curiosity and creativity, but delving into the back matter (perhaps with an adult guide) in depth will prompt questions about art-making and Chihuly – it is that intriguing!

And that art – it is especially stunning and attention-grabbing, almost neon in its vibrancy. It feels as though artist Couvillion (who I didn’t realize was someone I followed on Instagram??) understood the assignment deeply, and dove right into a psychedelic rainbow of color. Her medium of watercolors and pens (that’s a guess on the last one) perfectly washes the sky, sea, and land, along with details of architecture and indoor interiors – but the star of her art are the renditions of glass. It’s there in a true kaleidoscope of brights – all bleeding one into the other in layers just like Chihuly’s glass does. In contrast, Couvillion’s figures are flat and slightly boxy, with textures (Chihuly’s curly hair looks like so many waves, or perhaps pasta!), stylized features (look at the hands!), and skillfull shadow and light work. The art alone is worth pouring over again and again and again. Bravo!

 

Note: One page mentions that Dale lived in an Israeli kibbutz for a few months and that it was a formative experience in his young adulthood. The kibbutz movement was and is a Zionist project. Dale himself is not Jewish. Given the state of the world, this is an authorial choice that deserves more context and interrogation.

 

In all, A Flash of Color and Light is a celebration of color, light, glass, and Dale Chihuly’s enormous contribution to the field of glassmaking and art.

Recommended for: young ones ages 4+ and the adults who read to them, those interested in picture books about art and biographies of artists, and anyone who appreciates absolutely gorgeous illustrations.

 

A Flash of Color and Light: A Biography of Dale Chihuly will be released by Little Bigfoot (Sasquatch Books) on October 15, 2024.

Fine print: I read an advanced digital copy of the text on Edelweiss. I did not receive any compensation for this post.

wake: the hidden history of women-led slave revolts

While I was in Las Vegas this last week with my sister, we chatted about our most recent reads, and which ones stood out weeks and months after the reading. For me, one of those reads was Dr. Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez's graphic novel memoir-slash-academic history Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts. I picked this title up at my local library after seeing it mentioned in a newsletter from the publisher, and found it haunting and important.

Women warriors planned and led revolts on slave ships during the Middle Passage. They fought their enslavers throughout the Americas. And then they were erased from history.

Wake tells the “riveting” (Angela Y. Davis) story of Dr. Rebecca Hall, a historian, granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery. The accepted history of slave revolts has always told her that enslaved women took a back seat. But Rebecca decides to look deeper, and her journey takes her through old court records, slave ship captain’s logs, crumbling correspondence, and even the forensic evidence from the bones of enslaved women from the “negro burying ground” uncovered in Manhattan. She finds women warriors everywhere.

Using a “remarkable blend of passion and fact, action and reflection” (NPR), Rebecca constructs the likely pasts of Adono and Alele, women rebels who fought for freedom during the Middle Passage, as well as the stories of women who led slave revolts in Colonial New York. We also follow Rebecca’s own story as the legacy of slavery shapes her life, both during her time as a successful attorney and later as a historian seeking the past that haunts her.

Illustrated beautifully in black and white, Wake will take its place alongside classics of the graphic novel genre, like Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Art Spiegelman’s Maus. This story of a personal and national legacy is a powerful reminder that while the past is gone, we still live in its wake.

In Wake, Dr. Hall weaves together the process of historical discovery – detailing time spent in archives, attempting to cross-reference what fragments of source documents still exist, and the frustrations of accessing both – with the riveting histories of women-led slave revolts both on the Atlantic and in America. She combines a clear (and fascinating!) approach to the historical record with interpretation of what may have happened in the gaps – the untold stories – and her own experiences in academia as a Black woman investigating the horrific acts and legacies of slavery. Then she mixes in what she knows about her own ancestry. The resulting narrative is a fascinating intertwining of research and personal memoir that speaks directly to today’s issues of police brutality, protest, and white supremacy. 

“While the past is gone, we still live in its wake.”

What stood out most? I loved the insider's view of how anyone can go about “finding” women’s history. We are often told (or simply assume) that women were not instrumental in history because they are not mentioned in the historical record. But Hall breaks down that fallacy beautifully, showing that if you know how to search, if you look in the absences and margins, and dig, you can indeed find histories of women who changed the world, even in the driest and most difficult of documents. Her topic, of course, is women who led slave revolts. She refused to accept that it was always men who led slave revolts, and she was able to find evidence to support her hunch. 

One of the moments when I felt the most indignant about the content of this book (which after all would not exist without the inhumanity and banal evil of slavery) was when Dr. Hall was turned away from the archive at Lloyd’s of London. This former insurer of slave ship cargo (and now, just plain bank & insurer) cared (cares?) more about protecting its reputation than about the truth of the historical record. On their website they now claim to have taken responsibility and apologize for their part in the transatlantic slave trade in the wake of the George Floyd protests, but Hall points out that they care about profit and reputation than possibly connecting people who were forcibly stripped of their histories, culture, and lives with (any) closure. Hall is right to call them out, and I could feel the intensity of the moment when she recounted being escorted out of the Lloyd’s building by security deep in my chest. What cowards! 

Beyond the electrifying content, much of the success of a graphic novel depends on the interconnection of text and art. Hall and Martínez are a talented team – this story jumps off the page and into the light. The no-nonsense, realistic art style, in black pen on white background, puts the emphasis of the book on the very important content. That isn’t to say the art is neglected, no! There are feelings that are too much for words, and Martínez skillfully illustrates emotional, fraught, and frustrating moments so that the reader feels as if they are in them with the women of the story. The dust jacket is also gorgeous – with embossed layers, interesting fonts and illustration, and vivid color. 

In all, Wake is a powerful, instructive, and merciless look at the way history is made, recorded, found, and interpreted, and it is at the same time a very personal, familial story and a call to action. I felt deeply moved by this work, and I hope many will read and learn from it. 

Recommended for: fans of historical nonfiction and graphic novel memoirs, anyone interested in books that tie-in history and current issues for young readers (Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped, for instance), and those looking for beautifully-constructed narratives that challenge them as readers, and challenge accepted history!

spinning blog tour - interview with author tillie walden

Today’s post is part of the blog tour for Tillie Walden’s illustrated memoir, Spinning. Walden is the author of one of my favorite webcomics, On A Sunbeam, and is a decorated comics artist as well as an all-around lovely person. Read on for an interview and a brief review of Spinning!

It seemed like one of the themes of this book was solitude and a sort of loneliness, even when deeply involved in a team sport. Do you/did you recognize that as you put together the story?

Honestly, no! I noticed it afterwards. Which is hilarious to me now. It’s amazing how blind we are to ourselves and our patterns. But I’m glad that comes out in the book. I think it’s very easy to believe that team sports are an endless show of camaraderie and togetherness, but I found it all extremely isolating. And I imagine I’m not the only person to feel that way. Ice rinks, to me, are also especially lonely places. They’re freezing cold, and they’re either full of bright lights or kind of stuck in the shadows. And those locker rooms were just depressing. Full of leftover air from the ice and stressed out girls in full make up.

Writing and illustrating a memoir means drawing younger you a lot - did you find that easy/difficult/in-between? Did you refer to pictures?

I didn’t use pictures to reference. I was pretty easy to draw, luckily. I had long blonde hair and glasses, and I just sort of ran with that. I knew going into it that my drawings of myself would be interpretations, so I was ok with any inaccuracies.

What's the last thing you read (aside from your own work), and what are you reading now?

Omg, I love this question. I wish people asked me this more. SO, the last thing I read was The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino, and it was totally amazing. But all the prose I read is almost entirely mystery or crime dramas. I’m a little obsessed. And currently I’m reading the next book after The Devotion of Suspect X, which is called Salvation of a Saint. They’re detective thrillers set in Tokyo. Come on, how could I not read this?

Tillie Walden is a two-time Ignatz Award–winning cartoonist from Austin, Texas. Born in 1996, she is a recent graduate from the Center for Cartoon Studies, a comics school in Vermont. Her comics include The End of Summer and I Love This Part, an Eisner Award nominee.

Interested in reading more about Spinning and Tillie? Check out the full tour schedule here, or just click on any of the links below!

9/11 — Tales of the Ravenous Reader
9/12 — Love is Not a Triangle
9/13 — The Book Rat
9/14 — YA Bibliophile
9/15 — Fiktshun
9/18 — Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia
9/19 — Book Crushin’
9/20 — YA Wednesdays

Have I convinced you to pick up Spinning yet? If not, check out my mini-review below!

Figure skating was Tillie Walden’s life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing in glitter and tights. It was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But as Tillie's interests evolve, from her growing passion for art to a first love realized with a new girlfriend, she begins to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fits in.

Poignant and captivating, this powerful graphic memoir captures what it's like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know.

Tillie Walden grew up figure skating, and while she found success on the ice, she faced many challenges off it. Those awkward, weird, and sometimes wonderful young adult years are detailed in her beautifully illustrated graphic memoir, Spinning.

I identified strongly with Tillie’s experiences skating as both an individual and in a team – I was a competitive swimmer all the way through college. The isolation of competition, the gossip and enforced together-ness of the team all resonated. Pair that with Tillie’s scholastic struggles, her forays in youthful friendship, burgeoning artistic talent, and her relationship with her first girlfriend, and the book is brimming with all of the bits and pieces of life that seem to come at you 100mph during the teenage years. It’s not easy, of course, and Tillie’s experiences with bullies and worse are detailed as well. Tillie has written and illustrated not only her life from memory, but also a highly relatable book for teens and young women everywhere. It’s honest and beautiful and poignant and sad and all of the things that life is while you’re living it. I loved it.

Recommended for: young women ages 11 and up, especially introverts, artists, and those into sports.

Fine print: I received an advance copy of this title for review consideration. I did not receive any compensation for this post.

gingerbread for liberty!

Gingerbread for Liberty! has the word gingerbread in the title. I'll admit, that's all it took for me to click over to my local library webpage and place a hold. I love food (like a lot of you do, I imagine). I love books only slightly less than food (and some days it's pretty even in the running). A book that combines food AND art AND history is just extra icing on the gingerbread. Lucky me (and you), this one met my (admittedly high) expectations.

Christopher Ludwick was a German-born American patriot with a big heart and a talent for baking. When cries of “Revolution!” began, Christopher was determined to help General George Washington and his hungry troops. Not with muskets or cannons, but with gingerbread!  Cheerfully told by Mara Rockliff and brought to life by Vincent Kirsch’s inventive cut-paper illustrations, Gingerbread for Liberty! is the story of an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War who changed the course of history one loaf at a time.

Gingerbread for Liberty!: How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution is a picture book that delves into the history of German-American baker Christopher Ludwick, who lived in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War period. This little-known character was famous for baking gingerbread for the city, volunteering to help feed Washington's army, and he rounded it out by going on special night missions to convince German troops to switch sides and fight for an independent American nation.

While Rockliff does a good job with the story and history, the best part by far is Vincent X. Kirsch’s art and overall book design. The interior art is made up of layered paper cut outs in primary colors, with white edging that mimics traditional gingerbread decoration. The font matches the unique style, though at times its placement is not always intuitive for the reader. The effect, once you take in a page spread or two, is charming and the tiniest bit old-fashioned, like the wooden lace scrollwork on an old Victorian house. It doesn't ever edge into cutesy, though, and the various cityscapes, ships, soldiers and exploits described throughout the book will appeal even to those who have no interest in gingerbread.

That's said, if you are interested in food + books like I am, this book is perfect. The endpapers contain a gingerbread recipe (presumably like the one Ludwick would have used), and I was sorely tempted to bake and decorate in shapes to match the book's many illustrations. I can see this book spawning family or classroom culinary adventures, especially around the Presidents' and Independence Day holidays.

In all, Gingerbread for Liberty! is a multi-interest picture book that expounds on a little-known figure in American history, with fantastic art and a baking hook.

Recommended for: parents and teachers looking for children's books that focus on history (with a lesson but without tedium), anyone who enjoys baking, and fans of paper crafts/art.

Interested in other food-related posts? Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.

the four and twenty blackbirds pie book

For years, pie was one of those things I was intimidated by.  Why?  It’s a marquee holiday dessert, easy to get wrong (the crust!), and the whole process is fairly long and labor-intensive.  I got over that fear thanks to my best friend’s aunt – she took a day and demystified pie for us two aspiring bakers in her large, sunny kitchen.  These days, Thanksgiving isn’t complete if I haven’t made three pies. 

That said, I wasn’t in a hurry to branch out from the exact technique Aunt Laura taught us.  UNTIL.  I asked my local library to order a copy of The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book: Uncommon Recipes from the Celebrated Brooklyn Pie Shop.  I borrowed it, but only peeked inside once before returning it.  When I found out that authors Emily and Melissa Elsen would be at the Baltimore Book Fest this past fall, I made it my mission to go to their presentation.  Which was awesome.  I was an instant convert (the Bourbon Pear Crumble pie slices they passed around didn’t hurt).  Armed with this cookbook and my newly-acquired tools of the trade (thanks to the holidays!), I feel like an adventurous baker.  Long live pie!

From the proprietors of the renowned Brooklyn shop and cafe comes the ultimate pie-baking book for a new generation of bakers.

Melissa and Emily Elsen, the twenty-something sisters who are proprietors of the wildly popular Brooklyn pie shop and cafe Four & Twenty Blackbirds, have put together a pie-baking book that's anything but humble. This stunning collection features more than 60 delectable pie recipes organized by season, with unique and mouthwatering creations such as Salted Caramel Apple, Green Chili Chocolate, Black Currant Lemon Chiffon, and Salty Honey. There is also a detailed and informative techniques section. Lavishly designed, The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book contains 90 full-color photographs by Gentl & Hyers, two of the most sought-after food photographers working today.

With its new and creative recipes, this may not be you mother's cookbook, but it's sure to be one that every baker from novice to pro will turn to again and again.

This cookbook is as advertised: it’s a collection of pie recipes from the pie shop that South Dakota-raised sisters Emily and Melissa Elsen own and run in Brooklyn, New York.  If you’re like me, the mention of Brooklyn + _____ [insert some trendy thing here] makes you a little wary.  I always wonder, “Will this be for real?  Or did it just get this far because NYC is the center of the world (at least according to New Yorkers and half of the East Coast).”  Luckily, this pie book has solid roots – decades of baking and food service run along the Elsen girls’ maternal line.  Though they’re self-taught, Emily and Melissa’s recipes and methods are reliable (and delicious).  

The cookbook is arranged seasonally, by what ingredients are available when.  The pie crust recipes are at the back, and notes on sourcing ingredients and techniques (including step-by-step photos) for crust construction are at the front.  I skipped over a lot of those notes at first in favor of staring at the stunning photos of individual pies (really, it’s enough to make you want to lick the pages!).  One of the best bits about seeing Emily and Melissa in person was their reiteration of suggestions in the book – the little things that make the baking process easier.  Most helpful to me were mentions of which tools are hardiest (they’re fans of OXO) and necessary (I HAD to have a pastry scraper!), versus others that they could take or leave.  It’s also confidence boosting to just see someone else make a crust in front of you.  You end up thinking, “If they can do that in front of a crowd, on a time schedule, in warm-to-hot weather under a pavilion, I can definitely do it in my kitchen!”

And I have.  So far I’ve made their Bourbon Pear Crumble (photo above!), Lemon Chess, Salted Caramel Apple, and Browned Butter Pumpkin pies.  All of them ‘turned out’ beautifully, but the most popular were the lemon chess and pumpkin.  The pumpkin survived a flight to Syracuse at Thanksgiving!  I’ve never before felt so many envious eyes on me as when I carried it through the security line at Reagan National Airport. *grin*

Best part of the cookbook: uhhh… everything? I adore it.  I take it off the shelf often, and I think I will continue to do so.  It’s dead useful for anyone interested in pie, and it’s ridiculously pretty.  It also hasn’t steered me wrong yet – the recipes, if you follow them to the letter, are kind of ridiculously reliable.  My OCD-prone baking soul is content.  Worst part: again, I don’t have anything to say here.  You can skip over the intro if you want, but the rest is readable and useful.

In conclusion: if pie matters to you, get this book.  Buy/borrow/whatever-you-have-to-do. It’s worth a perusal for the photos alone, but I’ve found it extremely practical and inspiring, as well. A+.

Recommended for: pie bakers (from aspiring to experienced), those interested in local/seasonal food preparation, and anyone with an eye for attractive cookbook design.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

my paris kitchen

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get all excited about a book, and then it arrives and I won’t touch it.  Am I intimidated?  Procrastinating?  Saving it for the perfect day and mood?  I haven’t figured out that part of my psyche yet.  The latest victim of this “waiting game” was David Lebovitz’s cookbook My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories.  Visually, it’s a gorgeous volume, and Lebovitz has a way with words.  So why did it sit on the side table untouched for almost 5 months?  That’s a mystery for another day.  I’d better get back to telling you how great it is!

A collection of stories and 100 sweet and savory French-inspired recipes from popular food blogger David Lebovitz, reflecting the way Parisians eat today and featuring lush photography taken around Paris and in David's Parisian kitchen.

It’s been ten years since David Lebovitz packed up his most treasured cookbooks, a well-worn cast-iron skillet, and his laptop and moved to Paris. In that time, the culinary culture of France has shifted as a new generation of chefs and home cooks—most notably in Paris—incorporates ingredients and techniques from around the world into traditional French dishes.

 In My Paris Kitchen, David remasters the classics, introduces lesser-known fare, and presents 100 sweet and savory recipes that reflect the way modern Parisians eat today. You’ll find Soupe à l’oignon, Cassoulet, Coq au vin, and Croque-monsieur, as well as Smoky barbecue-style pork, Lamb shank tagine, Dukkah-roasted cauliflower, Salt cod fritters with tartar sauce, and Wheat berry salad with radicchio, root vegetables, and pomegranate. And of course, there’s dessert: Warm chocolate cake with salted butter caramel sauce, Duck fat cookies, Bay leaf poundcake with orange glaze, French cheesecake...and the list goes on. David also shares stories told with his trademark wit and humor, and lush photography taken on location around Paris and in David’s kitchen reveals the quirks, trials, beauty, and joys of life in the culinary capital of the world.

In My Paris Kitchen, blogger/chef/celebrated food writer David Lebovitz invites the reader into his own kitchen.  As is evident from the cookbook’s title, Lebovitz makes his home in Paris, France, and has adapted his cooking (and baking!) to his surroundings.  He visits local markets and shops and is dedicated to making regional dishes with the best ingredients, and then to telling the world about it.  His particular fusion of American and French food sensibility (and the stories that go with them) is fascinating, mouth-watering, and inspiring by turns.  This book may well spark a desire within the reader to pack up and make an Atlantic crossing.  That French market rotisserie chicken sounds divine.

With most cookbooks I can tell pretty quickly that either the food or the writing is the chef’s sweet spot.  I mean, if they’ve gotten to the point of writing a cookbook, I assume that they’re freakishly talented in both areas, but usually I can tell if they’re a writer who happens to be a great cook/photographer, or a professional cook with a good story or restaurant to rep. David Lebovitz is an equally brilliant writer and chef.  His writing put me right in the midst of the modern Paris cooking scene, and his recipes sent me to foodie heaven.  Color me impressed!

I firmly believe that no cookbook review is complete without a recipe test.  I had the ingredients on hand to make the individual chocolate cakes with salted dulce de leche, so I made those first.  Verdict?  Very rich, and a tad too salty.  The salt was toned down when they were served with vanilla ice cream, as the recipe suggested.  But I had 6 little pots of extremely rich chocolate dessert, and I was NOT going to go into a sugar coma for a cookbook review, so I pawned them off on the roommates and scrapped the rest. 

I decided to host a dinner party for my next taste test, and prepared chicken with mustard (the photo on the cookbook cover!), celery root puree, and winter salad.  HOLY GOODNESS, Batman!  Like, 5 stars across the board.  All of it was amazing, and I impressed both my guests and myself.  Just… so good.  I’m going all gooey and happy just remembering it.  David Lebovitz, you and your Paris kitchen win all the things.

So, I hosted a successful dinner party, loved the food, and was all-around awed by the writing.  BUT… (+10 points if you knew there was a qualifier coming)  I am not a fussy cook.  Baking is more my thing, and while I’m happy to follow arcane instructions for a pastry payoff, I’m less likely to put in hours of prep work (and $$) while cooking.  It comes down to the fact that I can’t see myself pulling this book down off the shelf more than once a year.  And a cookbook should be loved and used more often than that. 

What does that mean in real terms?  I can recommend it whole-heartedly to intermediate cooks, especially those with a yen for international cuisine.  And I can appreciate its brilliance.  That said, My Paris Kitchen won’t live on my shelf.  I’m not ready for it yet.  Maybe in 10 more years.  In the meantime, I can honestly recommend it for really marvelous food, great writing, and an authentic French experience.  I can see why it was on so many best cookbook of the year lists.  It’s excellent.

Recommended for: intermediate-level cooks (and above), anyone interested in the modern Parisian food scene, and those who appreciate superb writing.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

Fine print: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books for review consideration.

over and under the snow

My close friends are having children.  I've spread the word that I intend to contribute to (or manufacture out of whole cloth) the picture book libraries of these little ones.  I realize that my thoughts on the proper curation of picture book libraries = perfect blog material, but I haven't gotten myself 'together' enough on a Tuesday to do a themed post of Top 10 Books for a Baby's Library.  I have thoughts, though... oh! so many thoughts.  It will have to happen soon.  One of the books that would definitely make my list (for girls and boys) is Kate Messner’s nonfiction picture book, Over and Under the Snow.

Over the snow, the world is hushed and white.

But under the snow is a secret world of squirrels and snowshoe hares, bears and bullfrogs, and many other animals who live through the winter, safe and warm under the snow.

A parent and child cross-country ski through on a winter's day, discussing the various animals that hibernate, burrow and survive winter in their unique snowy habitat.  While they travel along, some animals meet them above ground, while others stay hidden, under the snow.  The book's action is (ostensibly) carried along by an afternoon skiing trip, but the pages focus on the animals in the woods rather than the human travelers observing them.

This book is a beautiful, refreshing entry into the winter-themed picture book canon.  First off, it is really lovely: Christopher Silas Neal's mixed media artwork is fantastic, and brings the wintry, wooded landscape to life.  The contrast of colors and materials show the animals and their habitats in detail, and draw the eye to different parts of the page for each separate scene.  Whether the reader pays any attention to the text or not, he/she is sure to be engaged by the images, for they tell the story very well on their own.

And that's not to say that the text lacks anything!  It's got a great rhythm to it, with just the right mix of repetition, interest and action that the whole comes together into an ordinary/extraordinary adventure.  Add in thought-provoking facts about animal habits, and you have a book that is entertaining, educational, and all-around a work of art.  The mix of fantastic storytelling through art and text will keep the interest of readers of all ages.

Another (small) thing I appreciated about this book is that it references winter without any of the holiday touchstones which might throw kids for a loop.  My friends work in public schools with extremely diverse student populations, and for some of their students, Christmas, Hanukkah and other winter holidays are foreign concepts.  This book is about snow and animals.  The turn of seasons is universal (and unexceptionable)!

Recommended for: anyone looking for a new classic children's picture book to add to their collection, and fans of Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day and Levi Pinfold's Black Dog.

i am malala (giveaway!)

Today I’m over at the BookPal blog with a review of I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick.  I loved it, and I'll be giving (and recommending) it as a holiday gift to many.  Here’s a little snippet of what I had to say:

I Am Malala is not only a good book, but an enjoyable, intelligent and affecting one as well, highly recommended for all readers (but especially grades 5+).

To read the full review, head over to BookPal.  And now... I’m hosting a giveaway of the book!  To enter, simply fill out the FORM.  For one extra entry, read my review at BookPal and let me know that you did so in the comments here.  Giveaway open internationally, will end on November 18, 2014 at 11:59pm EST.  Winner will be notified via email.  Good luck!

Fine print: I am hosting the giveaway, and I did not receive any compensation for this post. 

hallelujah! the welcome table

I read a lot as a child and young adult (I brought stacks of books on weekend camping trips… #justsaying), but I mostly read from lists of “classics” until I went to college.  Then, some modern (and by modern, I mean contemporary) American writers and poets crept into my consciousness via syllabi, regular newspaper reading, and the internet.  Still, I’d never read one of Maya Angelou’s books until a couple of weeks ago.  This despite having my interest in her history (and stories) rekindled when she passed away this past spring.  Given my focus here on the blog, it makes sense that the first Angelou title I would pick up would be her first cookbook, Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes.

Throughout Maya Angelou’s life, from her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, to her world travels as a bestselling writer, good food has played a central role. Preparing and enjoying homemade meals provides a sense of purpose and calm, accomplishment and connection. Now in Hallelujah! The Welcome Table, Angelou shares memories pithy and poignant–and the recipes that helped to make them both indelible and irreplaceable.

Angelou tells us about the time she was expelled from school for being afraid to speak–and her mother baked a delicious maple cake to brighten her spirits. She gives us her recipe for short ribs along with a story about a job she had as a cook at a Creole restaurant (never mind that she didn’t know how to cook and had no idea what Creole food might entail). There was the time in London when she attended a wretched dinner party full of wretched people; but all wasn’t lost–she did experience her initial taste of a savory onion tart. She recounts her very first night in her new home in Sonoma, California, when she invited M. F. K. Fisher over for cassoulet, and the evening Deca Mitford roasted a chicken when she was beyond tipsy–and created Chicken Drunkard Style. And then there was the hearty brunch Angelou made for a homesick Southerner, a meal that earned her both a job offer and a prophetic compliment: “If you can write half as good as you can cook, you are going to be famous.”

Maya Angelou is renowned in her wide and generous circle of friends as a marvelous chef. Her kitchen is a social center. From fried meat pies, chicken livers, and beef Wellington to caramel cake, bread pudding, and chocolate éclairs, the one hundred-plus recipes included here are all tried and true, and come from Angelou’s heart and her home. Hallelujah! The Welcome Table is a stunning collaboration between the two things Angelou loves best: writing and cooking.

This cookbook combines 28 vignettes (they could be called short stories or flashes of memory, too) centered around a particular recipe or meal menu, often connected to a friend or family member that made an impression on Angelou at some point in her life.  The cookbook progresses from her younger years growing up in her grandmother’s store to learning to cook Creole cuisine out of absolute necessity to recollections from later years and mentoring relationships.  It’s a story of a life, food and how it helps people to interact and connect with each other, and how cooking and hospitality can be used to understand the human condition.

The prose sections are easily the best part of this cookbook.  Angelou offers a variety of experiences and stories: some poignant, some funny, others tragic, courageous, homey and inspiring.  The selection is superb and ranges the entire emotional spectrum, much of the twentieth century, and geography that varies from the American South to Europe to California and back.  It's a window into Angelou's extraordinary life and experience as an African-American woman, artist and academic.  She lived, and wrote beautifully about it.

The food doesn’t sound half-bad, either (see: understatement, definition of).  There’s a mix here of southern comfort food, Cajun, traditional American classics and French fare.  It’s a combination born of a lifetime of moving, settling in somewhere new, and adapting to a changing world and new friends.   The recipes themselves are focused on main courses and sides suitable for lunch or dinner, and a few desserts.  It’s not very vegetarian-friendly or health-conscious, though there is one section at the end dedicated to vegetarian recipes. 

I tried two recipes: Crackling Corn Bread (Maya’s grandmother’s recipe, which she claimed was better than other peoples’ Sunday cake), and Pickled Peaches.  The peaches were a success!  Different than anything I’ve ever made before, in a good way.  They’d be perfect served with (regular) cornbread, chicken, and green beans.  The Crackling Corn Bread… was a flop.  I think this may have been due to my source of cracklings (chicharrones) more than the recipe itself.  It did smell amazing while it was baking!  But here, have the recipe that worked:

Pickled Peaches

INGREDIENTS

6 medium nearly ripe peaches, peeled and pitted

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1 cup orange juice

1 tablespooon whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

DIRECTIONS

Put peaches in large post, add sugar, salt, vinegar, juice, cloves, and cinnamon sticks, and cover with water.  Boil for 30 minutes. Take off stove, and let cool.  Put in refrigerator in its own liquid.  Discard cinnamon and cloves.  Serve cold.

One downside (if you want to call it that) of the cookbook is that the recipes have few “fine” directions. For example: Water necessary for the recipe isn’t listed in the ingredients section.  There aren’t any warnings like “do not overstir,” no mention of how many minutes to mix, or how fine to chop the ingredients.  The recipes are clearly meant to be more of a guide than precise chemistry.  If you’re the kind of cook who interprets things loosely and puts their own spin on recipes, this method will suit you down to the ground.

Hallelujah! is a treasure of a book, whether you try the recipes or not.  It’s worth owning for Angelou’s stories alone, though the food sounds mouth-watering as well. 

Recommended for: anyone who likes good food and a story well-told, and especially anyone interested in food culture and the American South.

I read and reviewed this book as part of the #diversiverse challenge.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

above the dreamless dead

I’ve had an interest in fictional accounts of the Great War (or Word War I, as we call it now) for many years.  I don’t remember where it started, but books like Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series and Suzanne Weyn’s Water Song only stoked the fire.  Shana Abé’s The Sweetest Dark would have been another favorite, if only it hadn’t had a love triangle.  All that to say, when I heard that First Second was publishing a graphic novel anthology of WWI trench poetry to mark the centennial of the beginning of the conflict, I perked up.  I hadn’t read poetry from the period, but it’s something I’ve always meant to do.  Editor Chris Duffy’s Above the Dreamless Dead is a powerful little volume, and one I can’t seem to stop talking about.

As the Great War dragged on and its catastrophic death toll mounted, a new artistic movement found its feet in the United Kingdom. The Trench Poets, as they came to be called, were soldier-poets dispatching their verse from the front lines. Known for its rejection of war as a romantic or noble enterprise, and its plainspoken condemnation of the senseless bloodshed of war, Trench Poetry soon became one of the most significant literary moments of its decade. 

The marriage of poetry and comics is a deeply fruitful combination, as evidenced by this collection. In stark black and white, the words of the Trench Poets find dramatic expression and reinterpretation through the minds and pens of some of the greatest cartoonists working today.

With New York Times bestselling editor Chris Duffy (Nursery Rhyme Comics, Fairy Tale Comics) at the helm, Above the Dreamless Dead is a moving and illuminating tribute to those who fought and died in World War I. Twenty poems are interpreted in comics form by twenty of today's leading cartoonists, including Eddie Campbell, Kevin Huizenga, George Pratt, and many others. 

Here’s a strange idea: take a selection of trench poetry (so-called because the poets themselves often lived and wrote from the Front, which was basically a patchwork of trenches for the duration of the war), and put it in the hands of talented comics artists.  See what sorts of collaborations (is that even the right word, if the writers are dead?) ensue.  Watch readers cry.

That last isn’t a foregone conclusion – the poetry itself isn’t maudlin.  However, if you have a feeling bone in your body, and you read and view the art, and then go to the end of the volume and look through the biographies of the authors and realize that quite a few of them died TOO YOUNG (I expected it, but I was still shocked by the numbers… and when I thought about those great minds, silenced)… I dare you not to get a tiny bit teary.  This book isn’t all mournful remembrance, of course.  It’s got moments of humor, and there are a few instances of gently whimsical art paired with serious subject matter.  And of course it’s all quite beautiful.

I had two personal favorites among the twenty-eight entries.  The first was Siegfried Sassoon’s “The General” (adapted by Garth Ennis, Phil Winslade and Rob Steen), a straightforward reading and representation of the poem (which was quite damning on its own), and one of the longer pieces in the book.  Second was Wilfred Owen’s “Soldier’s Dream” (adapted by George Pratt), a really magnificent, haunting piece that I know I’ll turn to again and again.

Duffy has done a great job of uniting disparate comics styles within one volume.  There are what I would call ‘traditional’ panels familiar from years of newspaper reading, full-page abstract paintings, images that evoke movement and violence, and detailed pages that require close study.  Add to this a variety of source material: poetry (obviously!), selections from soldiers’ songs, and a portion of a book.  It could have been a muddle.  Instead, it’s a lovely, poignant, intense read. 

Was this meant as a tribute to the fallen?  A reminder to all that war is costly?  No matter what its provenance, Above the Dreamless Dead succeeds as an anthology of art, and it is both poetic and visually stunning.

Recommended for: everyone (ages 10+), but especially fans of graphic novels and those interested in WWI.

Fine print: I received a finished copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration.  I did not receive any compensation for this post.

the b.t.c. old-fashioned grocery cookbook: recipes and stories from a southern revival

The other night my friend Leigh (displaced Texan and a total sweetheart) texted to see what I was up to.  She had just flown back to DC from visiting her sister and nephews in Alabama, and she wanted to hang out.  I told her I wasn’t doing anything but reading a cookbook.  When she arrived at my house, she wanted to know all about this cookbook.  She’d never ‘read’ one as a book herself.  I handed over Alexe van Beuren and Dixie Grimes' The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Revival, and Leigh just about crowed with delight.  She gasped over the Tex-Mex Pimento Cheese, and she laughed over the recipe introductions, just as I had.  I promised to lend it to her as soon as I was finished with it myself.  I’m glad we’re friends, and now I’m glad we’ve bonded over Southern cooking, too.

In a small town twenty-five minutes outside of beautiful Oxford, Mississippi, there’s been a revival of food and community. Bucolic small-town Water Valley wasn’t the most logical place to start a grocery and cafe, but that’s just what Alexe van Beuren did, in a historic building that her husband had saved from demolition. The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery opened in 2010 amidst a cloud of hope and dreams, full of glass-bottled milk, local produce, and Cora’s fried pies. Trouble loomed when hope and dreams proved insufficient for the daily realities of running a small business when lo and behold, Dixie Grimes, a five-star chef, walked through the door in need of a job. Within a few months, Dixie’s food had folks lining up at the window, and the two women discovered that after all, this small town in rural Mississippi was exactly where they needed to be.

The B.T.C. quickly cemented its place as the center of town life, serving hearty breakfasts and comforting lunchtime meals, as well as selling prepared foods like casseroles, salads, and spreads to take home. With vibrant storytelling, 120 recipes, and 60 evocative full-color photographs, The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook shares the inspiring story of how dreams can pay off in a small-town tale of food, friendship, and tradition.

Alexe van Beuren is one of a group of women who are making over the town of Water Valley, Mississippi.  Alexe started a gourmet grocery store there in 2010, and in 2011 celebrated chef Dixie Grimes joined the B.T.C. family, whipping up breakfast, lunch and deli fare for the local crowd.  Though the first years were tough, and Alexe admits that it’s much harder work than she ever imagined, the grocery has brought her community new life.  The story is chronicled in this cookbook, and it’s obvious it’s not just wishful thinking – the grocery and the people running it have become part of the heart of the town.

This cookbook is full of Southern basics (from spreads to the broccoli salad I recognize from potlucks), and that’s kind of great since I did NOT grow up with them.  Now I know how to make Southern staples I’ve heard of (and even some I haven’t).  Soups seem to be the B.T.C.’s ‘specialty,’ though recipes cover all types of food served in a deli (breakfast, spreads, sides, salads, casseroles and mains get top billing).  Overall, it’s simple, unfussy fare presented with a story and a history.

Aside from the food itself, the introductions prior to each recipe add personality and a sense of what the B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery (and the town of Water Valley) is really like.  I found this cookbook to be an entertaining, useful, and well-written story of food, family, and community rejuvenation.  And what food!  Dixie Grimes’ recipes have appeared in famous magazines and newspapers.  It’s evident why: they all sound amazing.  Personally, I can’t wait to try the Roasted Pear and Zucchini Soup (page 48), Green Apple Casserole (page 137), and Peach Ice Box Pie (page 210).

Of course, no cookbook has been properly ‘reviewed’ until you try a recipe or two for yourself.  I picked this recipe from the Salads section on page 103…because strawberries and asparagus are both on sale at the moment (aka in season):

Asparagus and Strawberry Salad

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds fresh asparagus, cut on the bias (4 cups)

4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

In an 8-quart stockpot, bring 1 cup of water to boil.  Set a steaming basket on top and add the asparagus.  Steam the asparagus until it is bright green and al dente, 4 to 6 minutes.  Immediately transfer it to a bowl of ice water and let cool.  Remove the asparagus from the bowl and pat dry with paper towels.

Put the asparagus in a bowl and add the strawberries.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.  Pour the dressing over the asparagus strawberry mixture.  Transfer to the refrigerator and chill 1 hour before serving.  Yields 4-6 servings. 

Note: This salad is at its best (and brightest) if you eat it the day you make it.  Also, I’m not going to lie, I watched a YouTube video on how to cut asparagus on the bias.  Yep, that basic.  p.s. The salad? Turned out beautiful & DELICIOUS.  Spot on flavor and easy-as-pie.  Making it again soon.

All in all, this cookbook is mouth-watering, funny, sweet, quirky as only small-town life can be, and a treat for both the belly and the soul.  If you don’t believe me yet, by all means check out a selection of pages here (including the recipes for Pimento Cheese and Chicken, Asparagus, and Mushroom Casserole, along with that scrumptious-looking Peach Ice Box Pie).  

Recommended for: anyone interested in small-town revivals, Southern cooking and incorporating fresh local produce into scrumptious recipes (healthiness not guaranteed).

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking!

Fine print: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

the model bakery cookbook

I won a Facebook contest for a dozen English Muffins.  I know this sounds completely batty, and in a way, it is.  Chronicle Books is a savvy company, and they know that if they put a photo of delicious food in their feed and tell you that you can win it by entering the contest… someone will enter.  I am that someone, and also lucky.  One dozen English Muffins from the Model Bakery showed up on my doorstep this Monday, and a copy of The Model Bakery Cookbook by Karen Mitchell, Sarah Mitchell Hansen and Rick Rodgers followed yesterday.  I didn’t realize the cookbook was coming too, but I’m glad it did.  I am not the sort of person who turns down cookbooks.  Especially ones that focus on baking.

This definitive baking guide is the much-anticipated cookbook from the Model Bakery, a mother-daughter-run baking destination with a huge local following that's been wowing the Wine Country for years. And this book of sensational artisan baked goods makes clear why there are lines out the door! Featuring 75 recipes and 60 photos, it's as luscious to look at as their most-requested breads, classic desserts, and fresh pastries--all arrayed here--are to eat. Pain au Levain, Sticky Buns, Peach Streusel Pie, Ginger Molasses Cookies, and many more glorious recipes make this a mouthwatering read and a reference gem for lovers of bread and pastry, cakes and cookies, and, of course, the Model Bakery!

The Model Bakery Cookbook begins with the story of how Karen Mitchell took over the bakery in St. Helena in the middle of California Wine Country, and with her daughter transformed it into what it is today – a two-location baking supplier for the local area, including businesses and restaurants in addition to their retail locations.  The photos by Frankie Frankeny are mouth-wateringly beautiful, and the mix of history and baking guide make this cookbook a must-see for the serious home baker.

The book is divided into several sections, according to what the bakery produces (recipes reduced to home baking proportions, of course).  There are several recipes listed under each section: breads, yeasted sweets, breakfast favorites, cakes, pies and tarts, and cookies.  The recipes are a mix of traditional American favorites and European-influenced imports, but all should be familiar to an American audience – they’re the kind of thing you find in your local bakery.  I, for instance, made the Irish Soda Bread to test the recipe, and I can report that it’s a solid, no frills approach to the seasonal favorite.

The best things about the cookbook are the great ingredient & equipment advice (I’ll be taking notes when pie-season arrives… basically, in a week or two!), an array of delicious recipes ranging from simple to difficult-to-replicate-at-home, lovely photos – some offering step-by-step visuals for the items requiring assembly, local and historical anecdotes of both the Hansens’ story and the location in St. Helena, and classic recipes done to perfection.

I had few quibbles with the cookbook, and they are minor.  The first is the small type used for instructions portion of each page.  I have good eyes, but if I didn’t it would require bending very close to the page, which is not necessarily something you want to be doing with floured hands.  The tips on the ingredients and tools also make it clear that this is not a cookbook for the frugal baker.  While I agree with the writers that the best food comes from the best ingredients, it isn’t an inexpensive proposition, especially if you count some of the specialty flour and chocolate mentioned.  Finally, you won’t find any truly unique items (so don’t go in expecting them!).  This baking book is about the classics, and they done very well.

In all, I’m glad to have this cookbook – it’ll work perfectly as a reference guide alongside my Joy of Cooking, and I intend to dip into it for holiday baking ideas as well.  And if I scrape up the cash to get a stand mixer in the near future, I know I’ll be consulting these recipes again and again.

Recommended for: the intermediate home baker, anyone who enjoys playing in the kitchen and is planning a trip to Napa in the future, and as a primer for favorite/standard American baked goods.

Interested in other food-related recipes?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

Fine print: I received a finished copy of The Model Bakery Cookbook from Chronicle Books as a contest prize.  I didn’t get paid for this post, and I chose to write the review of my own volition (it was not required or suggested).

saved by cake

Over a year ago I saw a fellow blogger’s review of Marian Keyes’ Saved by Cake, and I knew I wanted to read it posthaste.  After all, the cookbook featured baked goods (my purview!) exclusively, and the author’s voice was straight-up hilarious in the short excerpt.  However, I couldn’t find a listing for the US release date, and when I looked into purchasing an international edition, I realized I wouldn’t do well with the metric weights and measurements. 

So I put it on my wishlist and waited.  And waited.  And then!  It was finally available in April.  I bought it immediately and it sat on my bookshelf for far too many months.  A few weeks back I finally picked Saved by Cake up again, and here we are today, with cake.  All is right with the world.

Beloved novelist Marian Keyes tackles the kitchen with a new cookbook featuring desserts that are both simple and delicious, with step-by-step instructions and stunning photography.

“To be perfectly blunt about it, my choice sometimes is: I can kill myself, or I can make a dozen cupcakes. Right so, I’ll do the cupcakes and I can kill myself tomorrow.”

In Saved by Cake, Marian Keyes gives a candid account of her recent battle with depression and her discovery that learning to bake was exactly what she needed to regain her joie de vivre. A complete novice in the kitchen, Marian decided to bake a cake for a friend. From the moment she began measuring, she realized that baking was the best way for her to get through each day.

Refreshingly honest and wickedly funny, Saved by Cake shines with Keyes’ inimitable charm and is chockfull of sound advice. Written in Marian’s signature style, her take on baking is honest, witty, extremely accessible and full of fun. Her simple and delicious recipes—from Consistently Reliable Cupcakes to Fridge-set Honeycomb Cheesecake—are guaranteed to tempt even the most jaded palate.

I’ve never read Marian Keyes’ novels, but based on the dark humor and honesty in her cookbook, I’d say she’s got a flair for the descriptive, a thing for cookie cutters, and is also dealing with a really troubling bout of depression.  Oh, and she’s not-so-mildly obsessed with cake!  This cookbook struck a personal chord for me – I too have baked myself through rough spots.  It’s rather special to see someone else, quite accomplished at writing, struggle and come through with the same sort of ‘therapy.’

As for the recipes themselves, Keyes has a bit of a fussy bent, so many include unique flavor combinations, unexpected ingredients, and long-ish prep times.  Keyes has a good knack for describing baking tips that you may not have thought of before, and I will incorporate several of these into my usual routines.  My favorite section of the cookbook was the one on ‘Classics,’ though I look forward to also trying recipes from the ‘Fruit and Veg’ section as well.  The photo below is from my attempt at the Victoria Sandwich, which I’d make again (it was a snap!) but vary the filling.  My favorite THINGS about the cookbook at large were the introductory paragraphs and the beautiful photos accompanying each recipe.  This is where Keyes shines – in her conversational writing style and self-deprecating humor.

In all, Keyes’ book is fun, funny and personal, with drool-worthy photography and delicious recipes.  It’ll stay on my shelf, and come down for many rereads in the future. 

Recommended for: Marian Keyes fans, those who would appreciate a funny, slightly irreverent take on food and mental health, and anyone with a ken for cake.  Especially making it (and devouring it afterward!).

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!