Illustrated by Hayelin Choi
Readers to Eaters, 2014
Find @ Your Public Library
The Journey
From the publisher: Chef Alice Waters has always been friends with food. The search for good food led Alice Waters to France, then back to her home in Berkeley, California, where she started Chez Panisse restaurant, and the Edible Schoolyard. For Alice, a delicious meal does not start in the kitchen, but in the field with good soil and caring farmers.
Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious was launched at the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California on September 17, 2014. A most delicious day. Picture: Alice Waters (L) with Jacqueline Briggs Martin (R).
Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious tells the story of how one child’s search for delicious led to a dream for all children to share the joy of tasty food–the same joy we get from a beautiful song, or a starry sky. This search for good food eventually led Alice Waters to France, and then back home to Berkeley, California, where she started Chez Panisse restaurant and the Edible Schoolyard. For Alice, a delicious meal does not start in the kitchen, but in the fields with good soil and caring farmers.
Jacqueline Briggs Martin is the author of Caldecott Award winning Snowflake Bentley, and Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table.
Live Oak Media releases audio version of Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious, Jacqueline Briggs Martin; one child’s search for delicious leads to a dream for all children to share the joy of tasty food–the same joy we get from a beautiful song, or a starry sky. Narrated by Laura Hamilton.
Curriculum
Read other books about gardens and gardening, here are a few to get you started
- Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
- White House Kitchen Garden and How It Grew by Robbin Gourley
- Flower Garden by Eve Bunting with illustrations by Kathryn Hewitt (Voyager, 2000)
- City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan (HarperCollins, 1994)
An Excerpt
Alice Waters has always been friends with food.
When she was three years old
she wore food —
a lettuce leaf skirt, radish bracelets,
a necklace of strawberries and a crown of asparagus —
and won first prize in a costume contest.Little Alice was also looking for Delicious.
And she found it
in fresh green beans
and just-picked blueberries.— from Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious
Critical Acclaim
June 2015 — Great news! Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious is a 2014 Distinguished Book from Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California.
Named to the CCBC Choices 2015 Books — CCBC Choices is a best-of-the-year list created annually by the librarians of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center and published by the Friends of the CCBC, Inc. CCBC Choices 2015 is a fully annotated listing of 259 books published in 2014 for birth through high school and recommended by the CCBC professional staff. Download the 2015 list (PDF).
Reviews
– Starred Review –
Using an enthusiastic, conversational tone and a free verse form (“In her travels, Alice learned/wonderful food was like a symphony/that woke people up, made them happier”), Martin shows how Waters’s fascination and love for fresh foods started young…. A fine introduction to…nutrition, healthy eating, and creative people making positive change.
— School Library Journal
Out of the Ordinary. … this will be popular .. delightfully written and illustrated. There is a joyous quality to the diverse children pictured with Waters’ red hair easy to find in each picture
— Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California!
An inspiring, tasty story.
— Booklist
[A] lively biography chronicling the life of one contemporary foodie who has worked to make a difference in children’s nutritional lives. The art greatly enhances the text, with its varied multitude of cheerful people growing, preparing and enjoying food, as well as the use of different framing techniques and vantage points… An obvious choice in communities that have active Edible Schoolyards, it may spark some interest in communities that do not—yet.
— Kirkus Reviews
[An] adoring tribute. . .Martin describes how Waters seeks out ingredients with integrity: ‘The delicious meals she wanted to serve to her customers began not in the kitchen but in the field, with good soil and thoughtful farmers.’ Debut artist Choi fills the pages with cheerful scenes of smiling, multicultural children preparing and enjoying food.
— Publishers Weekly
This beautiful story not only captures the evolution of Water’s work at the Edible Schoolyard, but also communicates the very real focus of her message to young people: “You are important, you deserve to be well-nourished and fed.” This book utilizes whimsy of words and illustration to makes the legacy of Alice Water’s accessible to readers of any age.
— Kyle Cornforth, Director, Edible Schoolyard Berkeley
This book will inspire a generation of children to understand the importance of healthy food, healthy soil and healthy people and that they pass that education on to their own children.
— Chef Ann Cooper, Director, Nutrition Services Boulder Valley School District; Founder, Food Family Farming Foundation
This is a picture book biography that will inspire young readers to grow, eat, and discover their own trip to delicious… Martin explains in simple terms what the goals of Waters are, but she also manages to inspire and let the ideas soar upwards on the page… Choi’s art has a great feel to it with a mix of bright colors and a strong organic feel that is entirely appropriate to Waters… A dynamic and delicious look at the life of Alice Waters, filled with all of the mouth-watering moments of her life.
— Waking Brain Cells blog
