Eat Your U.S. History Homework: Recipes for Revolutionary Minds

by Ann McCallum, Leeza Hernandez (Illustrator)

Overview

Examine the birth of America through a delicious lens: FOOD! This history-themed recipe book is third in a scrumptious series and proves that cooking never gets old.

This collection of unique recipes will fill you up with lip-smacking history facts that reveal what cuisine was like for people between the 1600s to the 1800s, during the birth of America. Budding chefs will devour time-period inspired recipes for healthy entrees and snacks, as well as desserts, including Thanksgiving Succotash, Revolutionary Honey-Jumble Cookies, Colonial Cherry-Berry Grunts, and more. History buffs will appreciate the diverse experiences represented, from the Native Americans and the pilgrims, to slaves and plantation owners.


"...some tasty ways for kids to connect with the history curriculum."
-Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607349013
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	10/13/2015
Series:	Eat Your Homework , #3
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
Lexile:	950L (what's this?)
File size:	41 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Ann McCallum is the author of several books, including the upcoming Eat Your Math Homework: Recipes for Hungry Minds. She is currently a high school teacher in Maryland, though she started her teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse in northern Canada. She also taught English composition in the United Arab Emirates for five years. Ann enjoys reading, traveling, and walking through leaves, and hopes, one day, to climb a beanstalk.

Leeza Hernandez is an illustrator and graphic designer whose art has been featured in magazines, newspapers, and books, including Bored Bella Learns About Fiction and Nonfiction. She is the recipient of the Tomie dePaola Portfolio award from the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators. She lives in Upper Montclair, New Jersey.

Read an Excerpt

Ah-choo! Oh, no, a sneezing attack! It happens every time you open your dusty, old history textbook. That is, if you stay awake long enough to sneezzzzzz. . . . But wait, history doesn’t need to be deadly dull. In fact, it is anything but boring when you munch and crunch your way through it. Get set for a guaranteed way to turn sneezy into easy and drowsy into delicious. Get ready to eat your history homework!
            This is a book about making edible connections to American history. Each section shares a quick bite of America from 1620 to 1789, highlighting events—and food—from the arrival of the Pilgrims to George Washington becoming the first president. The recipes are based on original descriptions or on what historians believe early colonists were eating at the time. Of course, before Europeans settled in what we now call North America, the “new” world was old news to millions of Native Americans who had called this land home for thousands of years. As cultures collided, people learned to survive by sharing ideas—and food.
            Any way you slice it, learning about the past has never been so tasty!

Editorial Reviews

After encouraging kids to eat their math and science homework (2011 and 2014), McCallum and Hernandez this time pair six recipes to the history of America from 1620 to 1789.

The historical highlights include the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, Plymouth, and the first Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving Succotash); life in the original 13 Colonies (Colonial Cherry-Berry Grunt); the French and Indian War (Lost Bread); slavery (Southern Plantation Hoe Cakes); the Boston Tea Party and the increasing enmity toward England (Revolutionary Honey-Jumble Cookies); and the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War (Independence Ice Cream). Each period is summarized in a single page of general background. The recipe follows on a double-page spread, and then a further double-page spread gives more (and more specific) information. An introduction includes a timeline of the entire period and some cooking tips ("Please ask an adult to assist you, especially when things are sharp or hot"), which include pointing out that the recipes have been modernized. The book ends with a brief review of each period, glossary, and index. The cutesy cartoon artwork visually represents some aspect(s) of the learning and goes nicely with some of the corny puns the author adds in. The recipes themselves include pretty basic ingredients, and the steps are easy to follow…provided readers know what to do when it says to "beat," "whip," etc.

Social studies teachers aren't likely to assign these for homework, but some could easily be made in class to finish off Colonial studies.
-Kirkus Reviews


Similar to McCallum and Hernandez's Eat Your Math Homework (2011), this colorful book offers recipes for six dishes related to American history and uses them as focal points for information on particular topics: succotash (the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving); cherry-berry grunt (the 13 original American colonies); lost bread, or pain perdu (the Revolutionary War and George Washington). Sidebars bring up related topics and ask readers to consider questions such as which foods in the reader's refrigerator "would not have been available to the Pilgrims." As in the earlier books, Hernandez contributes upbeat illustrations with dressed-rabbit characters. Modernizing the Thanksgiving Succotash with chunks of hot dogs seems counterproductive, and most kids young enough to enjoy the illustrations will need adult help to prepare the dishes, as McCallum advises in the "Kitchen Tips" section. Still, for parents, teachers, and students looking for hands-on experiences, here are some tasty ways for kids to connect with the history curriculum.
-Booklist

From the Publisher

10/01/2015
Gr 2–4—The third time isn't the charm for the newest entry in this picture book series. The book attempts to make "quick bites" of early American history less "deadly dull" with the introduction of "modernized" recipes. "Quick bites" seems to refer to whitewashed, Eurocentric history, while "modernized" recipes indicate dishes that might have historians crying foul. The first two recipes strike an especially sour note. Thanksgiving serves up a succotash recipe that includes hot dogs, while the meal enlivening Colonial history is a fruit grunt or crumble (McCallum tenuously connects the dessert to the period by describing the colonists grunting and groaning through hard times) made with canned cherry pie filling. Adapting recipes to suit ingredient availability is understandable; however, the author neglects to suggest healthier and fresher ingredients that are more like those colonists would have eaten. The images of childlike bunnies vary widely in appearance. While some rabbits look silly or cute, others look sly or even slightly menacing. Illustrated parchment scrolls relaying additional historical information and providing questions for readers to ponder hold the one bright spot in this lackluster offering. Beyond the succotash and grunt, the rest of the recipes are inoffensive, and all of them feature clear instructions. VERDICT Not recommended.—Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT

School Library Journal

2015-07-22
After encouraging kids to eat their math and science homework (2011 and 2014), McCallum and Hernandez this time pair six recipes to the history of America from 1620 to 1789. The historical highlights include the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, Plymouth, and the first Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving Succotash); life in the original 13 Colonies (Colonial Cherry-Berry Grunt); the French and Indian War (Lost Bread); slavery (Southern Plantation Hoe Cakes); the Boston Tea Party and the increasing enmity toward England (Revolutionary Honey-Jumble Cookies); and the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War (Independence Ice Cream). Each period is summarized in a single page of general background. The recipe follows on a double-page spread, and then a further double-page spread gives more (and more specific) information. An introduction includes a timeline of the entire period and some cooking tips ("Please ask an adult to assist you, especially when things are sharp or hot"), which include pointing out that the recipes have been modernized. The book ends with a brief review of each period, glossary, and index. The cutesy cartoon artwork visually represents some aspect(s) of the learning and goes nicely with some of the corny puns the author adds in. The recipes themselves include pretty basic ingredients, and the steps are easy to follow…provided readers know what to do when it says to "beat," "whip," etc. Social studies teachers aren't likely to assign these for homework, but some could easily be made in class to finish off Colonial studies. (Nonfiction 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews