Peeny Butter Fudge
PreSchool-Grade 2—When Mom leaves her three children with their exuberant Nana, they play games, hop about in potato sacks, and dance under the chandelier. They also have lunch: "Yummy, lummy. Yummy, lummy./So much happy in the tummy./Look at what our nana made us:/biscuits, ham, and lemonade-us." Their messy fun is apparent as Mom returns while they are making peanut butter fudge. This spirited African-American family is joyfully portrayed in bright oil-paint spreads. Chocolate covers their clothing, food splatters the floor, and the cat peers down from the top of the refrigerator, the freezer door open. The irregular rhymes energize the brief poems, highlighting the love displayed from generation to generation when Grandma shares the cherished family recipe. "My mother taught me,/and I taught yours./Don't ever forget how it's done,/for you will have to pass it on." A scene in which Mom recalls making the dessert when she was a child features wavy lines and muted shades of blue. The illustrations extend the narrative, adding humor and warmth to this offering.—Meg Smith, Cumberland County Public Library, Fayetteville, NCEND