Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In a series of linguistically playful questions and answers about food, journalist and restaurant critic Stein suggests an exchange between an insatiably curious child and a good-humored parent. "Can I eat... a potato? ... a tomato? ... a tornado?!" reads one early question. "No, you can't eat a tornado! It's made out of wind," is the response, which goes on to highlight global dishes (tonnato sauce, tournedos, tostadas) that keep the freeform rhyme going. A spread revealing hidden opposites in everyday foods ("If there is... bacon is there... bacoff?") feels giddy in its sense of linguistic discovery, and some questions are unanswerable. "Is this a faraway lime or a life-sized pea?" writes Stein opposite a tiny green dot set in the middle of a lurid pink page. A closing list of labeled objects, edible and otherwise ("pea pear bee bear mousse moose mouse juice"), reads like a poem. Throughout, Rothman (Hello NY) uses a vintage-meets-modern aesthetic to lovingly detail mismatched table settings, vats of pickles, and knobby chicken fingers, adding greatly to the book's smarts-plus-style approach. Ideal for the Lucky Peach crowd. Ages 3-5. Author's agent: Nathaniel Jacks, Inkwell Management. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Horn Book Review
A food critic and a food artist team up for a random exploration of what to eat and what to leave alone ("a potato?...tomato?...tornado?!"); where foods come from ("Do eggs grow on eggplants?"); and some ethnic foods, such as Japanese sea urchin (uni). White pages contrast with bright close-ups of foods. A final page of spot art asks readers to identify edibles. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Wordplay and food play combine as an artist and a food critic explore edibles well beyond peanut butter and jelly. Actually, jelly (or jam) does put in a couple of appearancesnotably toward the end, following Stein's observation that some eggs become chickens and some become breakfast. Before that though, he answers variations on the titular question, such as: "Can I eat / a potato? / a tomato? / a tornado?!" No, not a tornado, but "tonnato, a sauce from Italy made with tuna," and likewise "tournedos" and also "tostada." Interspersed with general foolery ("If there isketchup / is thereketchdown?"), he goes on to solve the mysteries of pickles, eggplant, and chicken fingers, then closes with a rollicking illustrated list of "Can I Eat?" posers: "pineapple / pinecone / telephone / panettone / pony / cannoli," etc., on the final page. Aside from one scene of human hands of diverse gender and skin color reaching for said pickles, Rothman focuses on edibles and tableware, and though the individual ingredients in the tostada, the jellyfish platter, and the bowl of uni donburi are hard to distinguish, in general her cleanly drawn and colored meats, veggies, and condiments are both easily recognizable and yummy looking. Tempting fare for venturesome children, with a few tidbits for hipster parents who spend more time in restaurants than kitchens or farmers markets. (Informational picture book. 5-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
