Hot Pot Night!

by Vincent Chen, Vincent Chen (Illustrator)

Overview

Hot pot, hot pot! Hits the right spot! Babies and toddlers will enjoy this tasty dish filled with community and fun, now a board book!

This eye-catching hot-pot-shaped book and its rhythmic text make for a perfect foodie baby gift. For fans of Grace Lin’s Dim Sum for Everyone!

What's for dinner? A Taiwanese American child brings his diverse neighbors together to make a tasty communal hot pot meal. Together, they cook up a steaming family dinner that celebrates community, cooperation, and culture—centered around delicious food.

The rhythmic text will have readers chanting along, making it perfect for read-alouds, and the vibrant, expressive art complements the energetic feel. Young foodies will eat this hot-pot-shaped book and story up!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623546663
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	09/02/2025
Pages:	22
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 5.87(h) x 0.48(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Vincent Chen is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in illustration. He enjoys watching films, collecting art books, and eating copious amounts of potato chips. Ever since he was a kid, he has loved sharing hot pot with his family and friends.

Editorial Reviews

"What's for dinner?" is an end-of-day call to action in homes everywhere. Debut author/illustrator Vincent Chen answers with Hot Pot Night!, a toothsome treat that gathers family, friends and neighbors for what will be an evening of delectable communal dining.

As the residents of an apartment building return home, thoughts turn to an evening meal. For one young man, his refrigerator doesn't have much to offer. An older woman sits alone. A daughter queries her mother, who seems to have run out of satisfying ideas. As the hungry lean out of windows, not quite sure how to quell the pangs, a boy shouts out for all to hear, "Let's have hot pot!"

Apartment by apartment, the neighbors assemble, each bringing a necessary component. The boy (and his adorable puppy) offers the electrical cooking pot. Mother and daughter provide the broth. The older woman contributes stacks of meat. The young man arrives with a smorgasbord of fresh veggies. Everyone takes turns preparing—boiling the broth, washing and chopping the ingredients, adding the meat. The anticipation is well worth the results, as spoons, chopsticks and bowls sate the brood with "hot pot, hot pot, tasty hot pot" until all that's left is the promise of future gatherings for more hot pot to come.

Rhode Island School of Design-trained Chen creates a diverse community with characters of various ages, ethnic backgrounds and familial units. His short and rhythmic text invites even the youngest readers to join in. "Hot pot," Chen explains at book's end, "is a Chinese soup that literally brings people together and encourages them to share." Adding his mother's recipe further encourages participation—with the added caution to "always cook with an adult." He reveals his own love of sharing hot pot with family and friends "ever since he was a kid," with fatty pork belly as his favorite hot pot ingredient.

Chen's digitally rendered pages, presented predominantly in a palette of golds, oranges and browns, seem to reflect the fading light outside, while beckoning audiences into brighter cozy spaces inside, where friends gather, appetites grow and hot pot entices. As arms reach toward the ready feast, Chen cleverly zooms above for a birds-eye view, turning the text on the side, presenting a well-laden table of diners, dips, dishes and an oversized pot brimming with happy deliciousness. The cooperation doesn't end with empty bowls, as the satiated group ensures clean-up also remains a communal event. Warm and welcoming, Hot Pot Night! proves to be a nourishing experience for bellies and hearts alike.

Shelf Talker: Neighbors and friends gather together, combining myriad ingredients to share an abundant, nourishing feast on Hot Pot Night!.
—Shelf Awareness

The story opens with four families in an apartment building asking the eternal question, “What’s for dinner?” One little boy’s enthusiastic answer of “Hot pot!” is met with jubilation and spurs ­immediate action. One family provides the hot pot, another the broth, while the remaining two families bring the meat and vegetables. With broad digital illustrations and minimal text, readers witness the whole feast come to life. All of the neighbors heartily dig in with chopsticks and eat to their hearts’ content. When there is no more they all pitch in to wash the dishes. As the neighbors return to their own apartments, they agree to do it again but alternate who will bring the pot and who will host. A recipe at the end is the ideal finishing touch. VERDICT A delightful celebration of food and community in the vein of the European stone soup ­folktale, with a Taiwanese twist.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

2020-06-16
Neighbors pool ingredients for a spontaneous potluck meal.

As the day ends in this urban building, residents in four separate apartments ask: “What’s for dinner?” An olive-skinned child suggests hot pot, and the action kicks into high gear. The olive-skinned, brown-haired host produces an electric tabletop cooker as a brown-skinned pair shows up with the broth, followed by a fair-skinned, white-haired woman who brings meat and a brown-skinned, brown-haired man with vegetables he has grown. Together, everyone cheerfully preps the meal; even the dog is excited about this communal activity. The animated spreads have a cartoony energy while the short, energetic sentences invite reading out loud. The illustrations offer little depth or dimension, however, and the assorted ingredients (vegetables, tofu, lotus root, seafood, etc.) scattered across the front and back endpapers resemble artificial food models stocking a toy kitchen. Although the main story names no specific racial or ethnic details, readers knowledgeable about Chinese culture will recognize the quintessential roundness of hot pot—as a vessel shape, as a way to eat, and as a symbol of harmonious reunions. The meal leaves the diners wanting more, and the story concludes with the promise of future hot-pot nights. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.5-by-19-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Flat, unsubtle artwork dilutes a potent concept and weakens the taste for this picture book promoting community and sharing. (author’s note, recipe) (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews