The TTLG 2011 Picture Book Celebration: Book One hundred and twenty-four

In my family, so many celebrations are associated with feasts and food. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without the cake, and the Fourth of July would feel all wrong if we didn't cook something delicious on the grill. In today's story, a girl and her family are preparing a special meal in honor of her grandparents, and things are not going as planned.

Three Scoops and a Fig

Sara Laux Akin

Illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Peachtree Publishers, 2010, 978-1-56145-522-5

   Sofia’s grandparents are coming over today, and Sofia’s father is cooking up a storm in the kitchen of his restaurant. Sofia is eager to help cook, but when she pushes the button of the blender (without putting the top on the machine) everything in the kitchen gets splattered with tomato sauce. Sofia’s father tells her that she is just too little to help.

   Later Sofia smells bread baking, and when she goes into the kitchen, she sees that mama is putting some breadsticks into the oven. Once again, Sofia wants to help, and once again something goes terribly wrong. Then, when Sofia tries to help her brother make pizza, she manages to get her dough on the ceiling fan! Poor Sofia wants so much to contribute to the celebration. Is there anything that she do that won’t go horribly wrong?

   In this simple yet warming picture book, the author celebrates the food traditions and close ties that family members share, and she shows young readers how their own creativity can make their wishes come true.

   Kathleen Hartung’s expressive illustrations beautifully capture the close family ties that run like threads through the story.