36 Strange Little Animals Waiting to Eat: With Simple Little Recipes to Make

Extraordinary animal characters, including the Little Crumbled Kreepits and the Honey-Toed Sprowt, describe how they prepare their favorite foods, such as Hot Bagels with Cinnamon-Honey cream cheese and English Muffin Pizzas, while keeping their kitchens neat and safe.

Grade 2-4-- The Honey-Toed Sprowt, the Green-Eyed Quilch, and other whimsical, invented animals are presented; after a bit about the personality and lifestyle of each, a recipe is given, often from the creature's point of view. There are 23 recipes, from breakfast (``Hot bagel with honey-raisin cream cheese'') to dessert (``Strawberries with hot chocolate dipping sauce''). Although some prepared foods are used, most recipes are made from scratch. They are usually nutritious, clearly described, and nicely laid out: one creature and its recipe are pictured and explained on each page. The colorful illustrations are attractive; the portraits of the beasts are droll, but the best pictures appear on the endpapers: a double-page spread shows a long table full of dishes waiting for the food to come, all set about with exactly 36 chairs and stools of many descriptions. Unfortunately, the tone is sometimes condescending and precious. In the category of lighthearted, animal-related, beginning cookbooks, a less cloying choice is Watson's The Little Pigs' First Cookbook (Little, 1987). --Carolyn Jenks, formerly at Oyster River Elementary School, Durham, NH
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.