Our Little Kitchen

I found this book at work today, and my co-worker and I read it together. We LOVED it! What a great message--folks working together to make the tastiest foods they can. The pictures are so beautifully done, they almost pop off the page! There's a cute rhythm to the way the story reads, too! And we both LOVED the inclusivity of the book!!!

A diverse group of volunteers get together to cook a meal. They pick produce from their garden, select the right recipe, and make every scrap of food count. When the food is ready, they open up the soup kitchen and feed their most vulnerable neighbors.

A really lovely book, about both food / cooking and taking care of your community. The food at the soup kitchen doesn’t come from nowhere - some of the ingredients are delivered by charities or donated by individuals but the only reason there is enough to go around is because the volunteers work so hard to make it that way. The art is a good introduction to comic books - there’s lots of onomatopoeia and voice bubbles. The recipes and cooking are shown in beautiful close-up drawings so show more readers could make them themselves if they want to. Highly recommended for picture book lovers, for both the art and the story. show less

Endpapers full of wild movement begin the story the instant you open the book, showing a step-by-step recipe for vegetable soup: knives chopping, vegetables falling into the pot, the pot steaming. After the title page, characters appear: a white mother and her multiracial(?) little kid joining a brown-skinned woman and a tall white man in a kitchen. Some text is narrative and some is dialogue in speech bubbles, but all keeps to the rhyme scheme ("Our little kitchen, a tiny, small place, is just big enough, so squeeze in and make space..."). In a weekly tradition, diverse workers all pitch in to help prepare and serve a meal, complete with plenty of onomatopoeia (glug, sizzle, spit, chop). "Is your body warm? Is your belly full?"

See show more also: Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson show less

I really enjoyed a book centered around community--coming together at a community kitchen to make a meal. It was a book about making the best of resources they had (older produce, day old products, items from the food bank) so as to still warm hearts and bellies. This is a message I want to see more of in society!

Here's the slight issue. Due to Jilliam Tamaki's writing style, this does flow more like a graphic novel. There are word bubbles and not line text. If you are looking for a rhythm, it is not there. Also, the end papers involve recipes....but no ingredients =( Missed opportunity I think.

Nicely conveys the spirit of volunteerism and coming together of community to support and strengthen each other. A diverse cast of volunteers, old and young, is led by a no-nonsense kitchen manager as they work to create a meal out of what they've got.

In this lively, rousing picture book from Caldecott Honoree Jillian Tamaki, a crew of resourceful neighbors comes together to prepare a meal for their community. With a garden full of produce, a joyfully chaotic kitchen, and a friendly meal shared at the table, Our Little Kitchen is a celebration of full bellies and looking out for one another. Bonus materials include recipes and an author’s note about the volunteering experience that inspired the book.

This book might work better if you have a little context by reading the back cover and the Author's Note at the end first, but that wouldn't do much to make up for the erratic and weak rhyming and the sometimes confusing flow.