The Last Super Chef by Chris Negron

 

Anyone who knows me knows I love to watch cooking shows, especially shows in which kids produce such amazing, mouth-watering dishes. Naturally, novels about kids on cooking shows are also a favorite category of mine. So I was pretty excited to read The Last Super Chef by Chris Negron, especially since I enjoyed his other book Dan Unmasked so much.

Money problems have always plagued the Pith family - mom, Curtis, 11, and fourth grade sister, Paige. Curtis, who is the family cook and wants to be a chef when he grows up, creatively makes due with whatever food they can afford, but it just never seems to be enough. 

Naturally, Curtis' favorite TV show is Super Chef, starring world renowned chef Lucas Taylor. Not only is Chef Taylor an amazing cook, but Curtis is also convinced that he is his father, thanks to a causal remark his mother made when he was in 2nd grade and asked about his absent, unknown father. 

Now, Curtis' mom has been fired, their greedy landlord is after the rent money owed him and it is announced that once the new cooking champ is crowned that will be the end of Super Chef. BUT, a culinary contest called The Last Super Chef is announced and this show will feature only five kid competitors instead of adults. And the winner will receive $250,000 with which to do anything they want.

Curtis is determined to become a competitor, but how can he make the required video submission of himself demonstrating his unique cooking talents when the Pith family has so little in the way of food and a kitchen that leave much to be desired? There is only one thing to do - sneak into the landlord's super stocked, fully equipped kitchen and have his best friend Tre record him. 

But when Curtis finds himself one of the five kid competitors, he discovers that there is more to cooking and life than he ever expected to experience. Staying in a set up high above the television studio, the kid competitors - Kiko Tanaka from Japan, Pepper Carmichael from Boston, Joey Modestino from Chicago, and Bo Agosto from Mexico, and of course, Curtis- are isolated from family and the rest of the world. 

The Last Super Chef isn't a weekly elimination contest. Instead, the kids will accrue points and the one with the greatest number of points will be the winner, to be announced on Thanksgiving. Additionally, each week, one competitor meets with Chef Taylor, who takes them to various New York restaurants to get to know them better. Things don't go well for Curtis, who is upset and angry that Taylor won't acknowledge that he is his father, causing Curtis to have a hard time controlling his anxiety and his feeling of resentment that Chef Taylor had the means to help the Pith family out and just ignored them. Curtis, it turns out, has much to learn about himself, who he really is and what he really wants out of life. 

The Last Super Chef is kind of a fun book that tackles some serious issues. Curtis' yearning for a father who can help his family out is understandable, and so is his fixation of Chef Taylor to fill that spot. His anger at the chef may be misplaced, but is also understandable until the truth comes out. Yet, Curtis manages to grow emotionally despite the disappointments and setbacks he faces. His experiences aren't without their positive aspects, however. And, of course, there is the reason why Chef Taylor is retiring at the top of his game. Even though Chef Taylor is hero status is in flux for Curtis, can he help the Chef face his own future after learning the reason for the sudden retirement plans?

This novel has a nice premise to it and is perfect for kids who like cooking, cooking shows, and/or characters they can easily relate to. 

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was gratefully received from the author.

MMGM: Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome

It's 1946, and 11-year-old Langston and his Daddy have moved from Alabama to Chicago as part of the great migration. Langston's mother has recently passed away and he is having difficulty coming to terms with his loss, and with living in a city he hates. Langston misses his Mama, Alabama and his family, and his loneliness is only magnified by all the noise and people around him. To top that off, at Haines Junior High School, Langston is the target of schoolyard bully Lymon and his two sidekicks, Errol and Clem, who delight in making fun of him for being a "country boy."

One day, to avoid a confrontation with Lymon, Langston heads out of school in a different direction and finds himself standing in front of the George Cleveland Hall branch of the Chicago Public Library. Going inside, Langston is awed by its beauty but more, noticing the portraits hanging on the walls, by the fact that it is a library devoted to African American artists, and that it is open to any Chicago resident. As he walks along the shelves of books, Langston discovers one with his name. Reading his first Langston Hughes poem, Langston feels as though he is reading the words in his own heart. And imagine his surprise when he discovers that Langston Hughes is his namesake, chosen by his Mama.

Langston returns to the library again and again, even lying to his father about where he is going, knowing he would disapprove. But when Langston is left in the care of a neighbor, Mrs. Fulton, while his father returns to Alabama for a week, he learns she is a high school teacher who also loves poetry. Will she be an ally now or an enemy?

Langston may have found sanctuary in the library and the books he reads there, but it doesn't mean that he is being left alone by Lymon. No, indeed, but will a confrontation with this bully finally open up some honest communication between Langston and his Daddy?

Finding Langston is Lesa Cline-Ransome's debut middle grade novel. I've always enjoyed her picture books, so naturally I was looking forward to reading this. And I loved it. It is historical fiction, set in the south side of a post-war Chicago, and is narrated in the first person by Langston. He tells his story plainly and simply, and despite missing his Mama and home, and his intense feelings of loneliness and alienation, he narrates without self-pity or anger, two emotions that would certainly feel understandable. Langston has keen awareness of his surroundings, both in Alabama and Chicago, providing the reader with multilayered and textured imagery appealing to their sense of touch, smell, and hearing as he experiences the world around him.

As Langston explores the poetry of Langston Hughes and others, he discovers the power of words to help him express himself and lessen his feelings of loneliness and loss knowing that others have felt the same way.

Finding Langston includes many details about life for African Americans, from the whites-only libraries in Alabama to the kind, welcoming librarians in the Chicago library. There is mention of the Port Chicago disaster, and the Harlem Renaissance, inviting readers to explore these topics more.

This is a short but powerful and beautifully written novel exploring themes of bullying, death, grief, and discrimination through the life of an 11-year-old African American boy. You can find a very useful Educator's Guide for Finding Langston from the publisher, Holiday House, HERE

Last Poetry Friday, I posted my personal favorite Langston Hughes poem and the one I used in school to introduce my students to Langston Hughes. It is called "I Dream A World," and as they always pointed out it still resonates in today's world.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was an ARC gratefully received from the publisher.

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle. 

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Six-grader Leigh Botts hasn't been a very happy boy since his parents got divorced, and so he has decided to pick up where he left off in his correspondence with author Boyd Henshaw.  Leigh has been sending Mr. Henshaw one or two letters year since first grade, but now his sixth grade teacher has assigned the class an author report to improve their writing skills.

And so, Leigh decides to write to Mr. Henshaw again with a list of questions for his report, including any writing tips since Leigh would also like to be a famous author someday.  Although he gets a reply to his questions, Mr. Henshaw's answers are sometimes funny, other times snarky, but Leigh does think his writing tips are OK.  Oh yes, and Mr. Henshaw sends back a list of questions for Leigh to answer.  He has no intention of doing this until his mother finds the questions and tells him that since Mr. Henshaw answered his questions, Leigh needs to do the same.

As Leigh writes his answers to Mr. Henshaw's questions in a series of letters, it becomes clear that he is not handling his parents divorce well.  He misses his father, who keeps making promises to visit, promises which are broken.  And because of the divorce, Leigh and his mother have moved into a small apartment next to a gas station.  She has had taken two jobs to help make ends meet, but that means that Leigh is often home alone.  And to make matters worse, Leigh is the new kid in his class, so he has no friends yet, except for Mr. Fridley, the school janitor.  One positive aspect to his life is that his mother's second job is with a caterer, so there is often special treats in his lunch bag.  On the negative, someone is stealing these special treats out of his lunch bag almost every day.

Annoyed about this, Leigh decides to build an alarm to try and catch the person stealing his treats. When the alarm works, the kids in his class are totally impressed and Leigh finally makes a friend in school, though he doesn't catch the lunch bag thief.

And when he is encouraged by his teacher to write a story for the Young Writers' Yearbook, he decides to write about riding in his dad's rig, a story that gets him an honorable mention and a chance to meet a famous author.  Things begin to look up for Leigh, though he does learn that some things in his life won't change, but he slowly begins to accept that and more forward.

Dear Mr. Henshaw is an interesting epistolary novel.  Although the reader never gets to read any of Mr. Henshaw's replies to Leigh, what he writes can be surmised from Leigh's references to them. And since the story is told in the first person by Leigh, the reader has only his interpretation of Mr. Henshaw's letters, so the story's perspective is very limited.  Fortunately, for all his complaining, Leigh wants to be a writer, and so the things his writes are very informative as far as what is going on in his life.

I have to admit that at the beginning of the novel, I found Leigh to be a rather cranky, irksome protagonist, but as the novel progressed, and the problems he was trying to cope with became more and more apparent, I found him a much more sympathetic character.  There is a lot on Leigh's plate and Cleary handles it just right given the age of the intended readers.  Although, at times, I found the loneliness Leigh feels at school and at home is so palpable, it was difficult to read about it, even when I wasn't feeling very empathic towards him.

Beverly Cleary has crafted a beautifully plotted story that may feel a little dated (no cell phones, no computers - would his life have been different if these were available?), but the kinds of things Leigh must deal with are still very much relatable in today's world.  It is no surprise she won the Newbery in 1984 for Dear Mr. Henshaw.  

Cleary wrote what sounds like a great coming of age sequel to Dear Mr. Henshaw called Strider, and I am really looking forward to reading it and finding out how Leigh manages.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin

More than anything, Sasha Zaichik, 10, wants to become a Young Pioneer in Stalin's Soviet Union and a good Communist like his dad.  Comrade Zaichik, who works for the State Security or secret police capturing enemies of the state, is a true Communist hero, even receiving a medal personally pinned on by Stalin himself.

However, when Comrade Zaichik is arrested by people from State Security in the middle the night before Sasha's Young Pioneer ceremony, he suddenly finds himself homeless, an orphan of the state slated to be sent to an orphanage the next morning.

Certain his father's arrest is a mistake, Sasha decides to go to the Kremlin and personally speak to Stalin about it.  After all,  he reasons, since Comrade Stalin's light is always on, he is probably up working, anyway.  But as soon as the guards see him, he is forced to run away.  Not only that, he gets turned away by his aunt's husband when he goes to her for help.  Sasha finally ends up sleeping in the basement of his aunt's building, under some warm pipes.

He decides to go to school the next day, in the hope that his father's arrest will have already been recognized as a mistake and he will be at the ceremony as promised to tie Young Pioneers red scarf around the necks of Sasha and his classmates.  But his day is filled with moral choices and the events that follow in school turn out to be a microcosm of the wider Soviet world, a world in which people turn each other in to the authorities, where good and bad communists are separated from each other and confessions are forced out of everyone including school children using questionable methods.

As you might expect, by the end of the 24 hours in which Sasha's nightmare takes place, his life has been changed forever.  But what is to become of young Sasha?

There aren't many stories that take place in Stalin's violent, oppressive Soviet Union, and using a young, idealistic boy to reveal what it was really like makes this a much more accessible story than had Sasha already become another suspicious opportunist using the state to get what he wants.    

Yelchin sets Sasha's story in the icy cold Soviet winter, a setting that is a perfect reflection of the attitudes and policies of the characters.  Warm friendships just didn't happen in this atmosphere, instead there was a pervasive atmosphere of fear and mistrust, but also a little honor among 'outsiders' that was refreshing.

Even as his world comes completely apart, as he learns truths that would be difficult for any child to handle, such as what really happened to his American mother, what really went on in the prison his father was taken to, Sasha retains a hopeful, innocent voice with a blind faith that right will win out.  In many ways, Sasha reminded me of Felix from Morris Gleitzman's Holocaust books Once, Then, and After (books I highly recommend if you haven't already done so).

Simple spot black, white and gray graphite illustrations done by the author are used throughout Breaking Stalin's Nose, which aptly reflect to colorlessness of the story's setting.

I can't believe it took me so long to read this book, but now that I have I can see why it is a 2012 Newbery Honor Book.

Be sure to read the Author's Note and accompanying information about the Sasha's Moscow found at the back of the book.  Want more? You can actually explore it all in depth on the novel's dedicated website HERE

You can also find an in-depth 11 page discussion guide from the publisher, Macmillan, HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book is part of my personal library

This is book 1 of my 2015 Newbery Reading Challenge hosted by Smiling Shelves

The Saturday Boy by David Fleming

Eleven year old Derek Lamb's father has been flying Apache helicopters in Afghanistan for most of Derek's life and just when it looked like he was finished, he was called back into service there.  Now, Derek is having a hard time in school, at home, and with his former best friend, Budgie.

To comfort himself, Derek reads and rereads the letters his dad has sent him over the course of Derek's young life - all 91 of them kept in his dad's old plastic Knight Rider lunch box.  Derek has read the letters so often he know which letters to read when he wants them to say exactly what he needs them to say.

Derek also has a fondness for comic books, and superheroes, like Zeroman and Dinoman, something he used to share with Budgie.  Now, though, Budgie has become pretty mean to Derek, making his life miserable every chance he can at school.

Derek's own lack of focus makes him an easy target for a bully like Budgie - which is how he earned the nickname Saturday boy.  Budgie and his mom found Derek waiting at the school bus stop in the pouring rain on Saturday morning.  And by Monday morning, everyone knew about it.

Budgie continues to be antagonist to Derek in school.  When the boys are back at school, after spending a fun (at least for Derek) day playing at Budgie house, Budgie humiliates Derek in front of the other kids, even letting him know that Derek is his archenemy.  Later, when Derek seeks revenge, it backfires.  Hurt and angry, Derek takes to magic markers and the boys' room wall to express his feelings about Derek, which earns him a trip to the principle's office, and a call home to his already stressed out, somewhat distracted mom.

Just when Derek's 11 year old life seems like to couldn't get any more difficult for him, he learns that his dad's helicopter has been shot down and his dad didn't survive.  Suddenly, everything changes for Derek.

I picked this book up to read rather reluctantly last Sunday.  I wasn't in much of a reading mood, but I had to read it for something.  It didn't take long to become riveted to Derek's story and I finished the book a few hours later.  What a surprise!  I loved it.

Engagingly told in the first person by Derek, it is exactly the kind of coming of age story I am most attracted to.  When I first started reading, I thought maybe Derek was a little slow, he seemed to miss social sures and other things, but his lack of attention, I think, is perfectly normal for kids who have a parent deployed in a war zone.  And in that respect, David Fleming is spot on with his depiction of Derek and his anxiety, his anger and his distractedness and, for that matter, of his mother, a nurse who loses herself in her job.

The Saturday Boy is funny, sad, realistic and compelling.  It's not about bullying per se, though Fleming skillfully gives the reader a nice look into the mind of a bully, making what he does understandable, but without condoning it.  Budgie is, after all, what Derek's father calls "a target rich environment," overweight, with a terrible nickname covering a really embarrassing first name.  Vulnerable to bullying himself, he recognizes Derek's vulnerability and attacks before being attacks.

The Saturday Boy is Fleming's debut and definitely one that you surely don't want to miss.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Red Kite, Blue Kite by Ji-Ji Jiang, illustrated by Greg Ruth

Historical fiction is one of my very favorite genres, especially when it is based on real events or people.  Lately, I have been reading a lot of historical fiction picture books and I have been loving them.  Not only do they introduce young children to important events or people in history, they add so much to older kids' understanding to what they may be learning/reviewing in school.  Picture, especially in the hands of a skillful illustrator, can provide a detailed visualization, in the same way a map helps us find our way.

Red Kite, Blue Kite is a picture book that begins just before takes the Cultural Revolution in China that occurred during the 1960s.  Tai Shan and his Baba (father) like to fly their kites from the rooftop of their home.  Tai Shan's kite is red, his father's is blue.  Kite flying is a special time for Tai Shan, because on the roof they feel free and Baba tells lots of stories.

"Then, a bad time comes."  Tai Shan's school is closed and he is sent to live with a farmer when his father is sent to a labor camp.  Granny Wang is good to Tai Shan, but he still dreams of being back home with his Baba and their kites.  But, at least, Baba can visit every Sunday, walking the long distance so they can be together and fly their kites.

One Sunday, Baba tells Tai Shan he will not be able to visit for a while.  He tells Tai Shan to fly his red kite every morning and Baba will answer this by flying his blue kite in the evening.  It will be their secret signal.

But one day, Baba tells Tai Shan he will not be able to fly his blue kite anymore.  He gives it to Tai Shan and tells him to fly both of them for him to see.  The men with the red armsbands are taking Baba to a difference labor camp because of his ideas.  Will Tai Shan ever see him Baba again?

Red Kite, Blue Kite is a book that can be read on two distinctly different levels.  First and foremost, it is a beautifully written story about the strong relationship and bond that exist between a father and his son, a bond so strong nothing can break it, not even separation.  It would be an excellent book for any child that has suffered and had to cope with separation from a parent for any reason.

The political aspects of the story are never really spelled out, since this is a story are told from Tai Shan's point of view, understood as a child would understand political events going on around them.  For example, the treatment of dissidents like Baba is not really spelled out, but it is there if it is wanted as a history/cultural lesson.

Complementing the text are Greg Ruth's realistically detailed watercolor illustrations.  Here, too, the political aspects of the story have been kept in the background by giving them a rather shadowy effect, while the more colorful elements of the illustrations, placed at the forefront, focus on Tai Shan and/or Baba:

I have to agree with what Pamela Paul wrote in her February 20, 2013 NY Times review of Red Kite, Blue Kite: [It] offers narratively strong, visually arresting and moving examples of why and how picture books can convey with immediacy and resonance the impact of profound historical events."  I couldn't have said this any better, and completely agree with it.

Just imagine the lesson plans you could come up with using historical fiction picture books.

This book is recommended for readers age 5+
This book was provided by the publisher