A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat

Emily Jenkins ∙ Illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Hardcover

Published on Jan 27, 2015 | 44 Pages

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Ebook

Published on Jan 27, 2015 | 40 Pages

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Grades Preschool – 3
Ages 4–8

A New York Times Best Illustrated Book

From highly acclaimed author Jenkins and Caldecott Medal–winning illustrator Blackall comes a fascinating picture book in which four families, in four different cities, over four centuries, make the same delicious dessert: blackberry fool. This richly detailed book ingeniously shows how food, technology, and even families have changed throughout American history.

In 1710, a girl and her mother in Lyme, England, prepare a blackberry fool, picking wild blackberries and beating cream from their cow with a bundle of twigs. The same dessert is prepared by an enslaved girl and her mother in 1810 in Charleston, South Carolina; by a mother and daughter in 1910 in Boston; and finally by a boy and his father in present-day San Diego.

Kids and parents alike will delight in discovering the differences in daily life over the course of four centuries.

Includes a recipe for blackberry fool and notes from the author and illustrator about their research.

“There is no other word but delicious.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“More than mere confection, A Fine Dessert is a rich and satisfying journey across four centuries…simply delectable.”
—School Library Journal, starred review

“A delicious book about a delicious treat.”
—Booklist, starred review

"This is classic Jenkins in its seemingly casual, observation-rich text; the folkloric structure of the process makes the prose rhythmic and readable, while the changing settings mark the significant historical and industrial shifts over the centuries."
—Bulletin, starred review

ISBN 9780375868320 (Hardcover)
Published on Jan 27, 2015
Published by Schwartz & Wade
Pages 44
Dimensions 11-1/2 x 9-1/2
Age Range 4-8 years
Grade Preschool - 3
Reading Level Lexile: AD700L | Fountas/Pinnell: M

ISBN 9780375987717 (Ebook)
Published on Jan 27, 2015
Published by Schwartz & Wade
Pages 40
Age Range 4-8 years
Grade Preschool - 3
Reading Level Lexile: AD700L | Fountas/Pinnell: M

Emily Jenkins

Emily Jenkins has written many highly acclaimed books for children, including Water in the Park, a Booklist Editors’ Choice and a Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book; Lemonade in Winter, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year; and two Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Books: Five Creatures and That New Animal. She is also the author of the popular Toys trilogy: Toys Go Out, Toy Dance Party, and Toys Come Home. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Sophie Blackall

Sophie Blackall has illustrated more than twenty books for children, including Big Red Lollipop, which was a New York Times Top Ten Picture Book, and the ongoing Ivy and Bean series, which has over a million copies in print. She won her first Randolph Caldecott Medal for illustrating Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear and her second for Hello Lighthouse. If You Come to Earth, her most recently published children’s book, has received wide acclaim. Her first book for adults was Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found. She has created highly coveted limited edition holiday cards for the Museum of Modern Art, and her editorial illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Town & Country, and other publications.