Let's Pop, Pop, Popcorn!

by Cynthia Schumerth, Mary Reaves Uhles (Illustrator)

Overview

Told through exuberant rhyme, a group of children shows the step-by-step process of how America's favorite snack comes about.

Beginning with the planting of seeds, the cycle moves through the caretaking of the plant (watering and weeding), all the way to its harvest. Finally, it's time to shuck, then pop the kernels, and enjoy the finished product!

Complete with back matter that includes scientific facts and activities, Let's Pop, Pop, Popcorn! offers a fun introduction to the process of creating popcorn.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534110427
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	03/15/2021
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 7 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Schumerth is an award-winning children’s author. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, John, and their rescue dog, Chance. Cynthia’s debut picture book, Let’s Pop, Pop, Popcorn, won the National Horticultural Society’s Growing Good Kids Award, and the Maryland Blue Crab Young Readers Award. She is a Published and Listed (PAL) member of the Society of Children’s Writer’s and Illustrators. Find more out about Cynthia at https://www.cynthiaschumerth.com.

Mary Reaves Uhles has illustrated several children’s books, including The Little Kids’ Table, by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle; The Twelve Days of Christmas in Tennessee, by Alice Faye Duncan; and the poetry collection Kooky Crumbs, by Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis. Before illustrating books for children, Mary worked as an animator on projects for Warner Brothers and Fisher-Price Interactive. A graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, Mary lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee. Find her online at maryuhles.com.

Table of Contents

Beginning of Text Let's Get Popping Why Popcorn Pops From Seed To Sprout: Science Activity Just For Fun! Popcorn Sheep Art Project

Editorial Reviews

2021-01-13
A spirited rhyming ode to popcorn and the fun it brings to all.

This book can be divided into two parts. The first half follows a group of children as they learn to grow popcorn plants. A freckle-faced White kid works with a hoe as a brown-haired child with beige skin drops seeds into the ground. The whole diverse group marvels as the sprouts emerge and quickly grow up past their heads. They harvest and dry the cobs and remove the kernels with a “plink, plunk, plink.” The kernels land in the pot, the text maintaining its rhyme scheme as it covers the anatomy of a kernel and why it pops. While this scientific interlude rhymes germ with endosperm, the syncopation through these pages is clumsy and forced. Luckily, when the popcorn starts popping, the energy and fun and meter return. While each line of text rarely strays from seven or eight syllables, there is great synergy between words and pictures, making it hard to sit still while turning the pages. Representing a wide variety of skin tones and hair textures, the children all display an engaged and curious demeanor. Their teacher, a Black woman, provides adult supervision of the cooking. Endnotes provide a summary on the types of corn, the parts of a kernel, and why popcorn pops, with a few popcorn-related activities.

Fun: a highly disguised STEM book for snack lovers. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews