Soup Day: A Picture Book

by Melissa Iwai, Melissa Iwai (Illustrator)

Overview

Melissa Iwai's Soup Day celebrates the importance of making a nutritious meal and sharing in the process as a family.

On a cold, snowy day, a young girl and her mother shop to buy ingredients for vegetable soup. At home, they work together—step by step—to prepare the meal. While the soup is cooking, they spend the time playing games and reading. Before long, Daddy's home and the family sits down to enjoy a home made dinner.

A Christy Ottaviano Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780805090048
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	09/28/2010
Series:	Christy Ottaviano Books
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	221,033
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD440L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Melissa Iwai has illustrated many children's books, including Toolbox Twins, B Is for Bulldozer, and Good Night Engines. This is the first book she has both written and illustrated. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and young son, Jamie (who loves to cook with his mom!).

Editorial Reviews

I loved this book! If only it had been around when my daughter Melissa was little, maybe I would have made something for dinner other than reservations!” —Joan Rivers

“Iwai's writing debut beautifully depicts the loving relationship between a mother and daughter… Ordinariness made extraordinary.” —Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

“A perfect meal and a perfect book.” —School Library Journal

“Idyllic and cozy with colorful, textured illustrations, the book also offers a perfect recipe for tiny hands.” —Associated Press

“The brightly colored illustrations—combining acrylics, fabric and paper collage, and digital elements—offer plenty of familiar elements for young children to identify and new ones to explore, such as six kinds of pasta pictured on one page. Satisfying for reading aloud.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2—On a snow-speckled day, a mother and daughter approach the greenmarket as the child announces, "Today is soup day." With economical text and vivid, multitextured collages whose upbeat charm belies their sophistication, the process of preparing the dish unfolds. In one spread, Iwai cleverly offers lessons about numbers, colors, sizes, textures, and what various vegetables look like. "This is what we put in our basket: One bunch of crispy green celery. Two shiny yellow onions….Six big white mushrooms. Ooops! We almost forgot the parsley." Back at home, mother and daughter cut up and cook the vegetables, and, while the soup simmers, read together, build a city out of blocks, hide from a monster, and have a tea party. Then they add seasoning and the girl's choice of pasta. While the alphabet noodles cook, it's cleanup time. Daddy's home, and the family eats soup together. The recipe is included. A perfect meal and a perfect book.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY

School Library Journal

Iwai's writing debut beautifully depicts the loving relationship between a mother and daughter as they go about a winter ritual--making soup. The two brave the snow to buy vegetables at the market, then it's back home to chop them all up, Mommy's hand helping her child's to chop the softest of the vegetables. Step-by-step the two mix the ingredients together. While it cooks, they fill the time by playing. Mommy adds the spices, and the daughter gets to choose the pasta shape for the soup. The two clean up while it cooks. Finally, Daddy is home and it is time to eat the soup, as much a product of the love that went into it as the vegetables. While the author slips colors, numbers and shapes into the text, the real draws are the touching portrayal of a mom and her daughter and the gorgeous artwork. Acrylics and collage were combined digitally to make the illustrations, which are filled with colors and practically palpable textures. Pair this with Ehlert's Growing Vegetable Soup. Ordinariness made extraordinary. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews