  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 10/01/2015 Gr 2–4—The third time isn't the charm for the newest entry in this picture book series. The book attempts to make "quick bites" of early American history less "deadly dull" with the introduction of "modernized" recipes. "Quick bites" seems to refer to whitewashed, Eurocentric history, while "modernized" recipes indicate dishes that might have historians crying foul. The first two recipes strike an especially sour note. Thanksgiving serves up a succotash recipe that includes hot dogs, while the meal enlivening Colonial history is a fruit grunt or crumble (McCallum tenuously connects the dessert to the period by describing the colonists grunting and groaning through hard times) made with canned cherry pie filling. Adapting recipes to suit ingredient availability is understandable; however, the author neglects to suggest healthier and fresher ingredients that are more like those colonists would have eaten. The images of childlike bunnies vary widely in appearance. While some rabbits look silly or cute, others look sly or even slightly menacing. Illustrated parchment scrolls relaying additional historical information and providing questions for readers to ponder hold the one bright spot in this lackluster offering. Beyond the succotash and grunt, the rest of the recipes are inoffensive, and all of them feature clear instructions. VERDICT Not recommended.—Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 11/01/2015 Similar to McCallum and Hernandez’s Eat Your Math Homework (2011), this colorful book offers recipes for six dishes related to American history and uses them as focal points for information on particular topics: succotash (the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving); cherry-berry grunt (the 13 original American colonies); lost bread, or pain perdu (the French and Indian War); hoe cakes (slavery on Southern plantations); honey-jumble cookies (Boston in 1773); and ice cream (the Revolutionary War and George Washington). Sidebars bring up related topics and ask readers to consider questions such as which foods in the reader’s refrigerator “would not have been available to the Pilgrims.” As in the earlier books, Hernandez contributes upbeat illustrations with dressed-rabbit characters. Modernizing the Thanksgiving Succotash with chunks of hot dogs seems counterproductive, and most kids young enough to enjoy the illustrations will need adult help to prepare the dishes, as McCallum advises in the “Kitchen Tips” section. Still, for parents, teachers, and students looking for hands-on experiences, here are some tasty ways for kids to connect with the history curriculum. - Copyright 2015 Booklist. Loading...
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