Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. As in The Cod's Tale (2001), this author-illustrator team has again adapted an adult best-seller by Kurlansky into a picture book that brings astonishing history, science, and technology to middle-grade readers. The tone is occasionally condescending (nearly 2000 years before! ), and some of the text, which is printed on the colored pictures, is not easy to read. But the informal narrative and the exquisitely detailed, sometimes playful ink-and-watercolor illustrations dramatize the sweeping world history of salt's essential role in human life--from prehistoric times and the early voyages of discovery through the breakthrough of refrigeration and the latest drilling technology. One unforgettable illustration shows defiant Gandhi leading thousands on his famous Salt March to the ocean to protest being forced to buy salt from the British. There's also a wry cartoon of Uncle Sam shaking a saltcellar on top of the globe, controlling the salt trade today. An illustrated time line sums up Salt through the Centuries. A great cross-curricular title. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Mark Kurlansky adapts his bestselling book for adults, Salt: A World History, into an accessible picture-book text for young people, The Story of Salt, illus. by S.D. Schindler. A rock that Kurlansky discovered while in a mountain town in Spain sent him on a journey of research and wonder. Schindler's illustrations range from full-bleed spreads of salt mines to an impressive scaled-down version of the periodic table. Readers will come away with newfound respect for NaCl, which has prompted smuggling and wars, has preserved food, and has acted as a catalyst in myriad cultures including Gandhi's Salt March in 1930. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Using the same format as in The Cod's Tale (Putnam, 2001), Kurlansky uses salt as the lens through which to present a new perspective on history. Chiseling the story down from his adult book Salt: A World History (Penguin, 2003), the author mixes science, history, and personal anecdotes, resulting in a fascinating look at this amazing substance. He defines its make-up, examines the ways it appears in nature, and discusses the important role it has played in various civilizations through the ages. Schindler's humorously detailed pen-and-ink drawings with colorful washes enliven the narrative and help to convey the wealth of information in the text. Data and illustrated graphs and maps further enhance the presentation. A lively and well-researched title, with exemplary art.-Carol S. Surges, McKinley Elementary School, Wauwatosa, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary, Intermediate) Humans must eat salt in order to live, but while salt has always been plentiful, it hasn't always been easy to obtain; its procurement and use has had social, political, and economic consequences. In some societies salt was controlled by governments and taxed to raise money (or, in the case of ancient Rome, frequently given away to keep the populace happy). Salt-cured meat provided portable food for traveling merchants, and early roads often followed animal trails to salt licks; cities (including Buffalo, New York) were established at such points where salt was found. Despite a dry opening, the historical record moves quickly, but not so quickly that readers can't pause and study Schindler's humorous illustrations, which lighten the weightiness of Kurlansky's premise (first developed in his book for adults, Salt). Numerous sidebars sprinkle the narrative with salt-related digressions, such as linguistic influences (salt is the root of the words salary and soldier). An illustrated timeline provides facts that support what would otherwise appear as facile conclusions within the text. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The author of Cod's Tale (2001) again demonstrates a dab hand at recasting his adult work for a younger audience. Here the topic is salt, "the only rock eaten by human beings," and, as he engrossingly demonstrates, "the object of wars and revolutions" throughout recorded history and before. Between his opening disquisition on its chemical composition and a closing timeline, he explores salt's sources and methods of extraction, its worldwide economic influences from prehistoric domestication of animals to Gandhi's Salt March, its many uses as a preservative and industrial product, its culinary and even, as the source for words like "salary" and "salad," its linguistic history. Along with lucid maps and diagrams, Schindler supplies detailed, sometimes fanciful scenes to go along, finishing with a view of young folk chowing down on orders of French fries as ghostly figures from history look on. Some of Kurlansky's claims are exaggerated (the Erie and other canals were built to transport more than just salt, for instance), and there are no leads to further resources, but this salutary (in more ways than one) micro-history will have young readers lifting their shakers in tribute. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
