[savory review] Soy Sauce! by Laura G. Lee

~ jama ~ 1 Comment

Did you know that soy sauce originated in China more than 2000 years ago, and that although it’s eaten in cuisines throughout Asia, every country makes it differently?

In Hawaiʻi this essential condiment is commonly known by its Japanese name, shoyu, and I grew up assuming it was a staple in every household. After all, my mom always had a couple gallons of Aloha Shoyu on hand (alongside a 100-lb. bag of Calrose rice). How else would she make her famous Korean dishes (bulgogi, kalbi, miyeok guk)? We drizzled it on fried rice, mixed a little with canned tuna, and dipped everything in it from sushi to sashimi, tofu to tempura.

Yet despite my lifelong familiarity with soy sauce, I didn’t fully appreciate its cultural and historic nuances until I read Soy Sauce! by Laura G. Lee (Algonquin YR/Little Brown, 2025). This imaginative celebration of the iconic kitchen staple uses real soy sauce as paint and shows how food connects people across the world. With the help of three enthusiastic kids, we learn how soy sauce is made in China, Japan and Korea.

The book opens with an interesting question: What does it take to make life delicious? Soy Sauce of course! “Dark amber, warm like honey, briny like the sea. Soy sauce fills the mouth with umami, the spirit of savory!” Our new friends explain that everyone makes soy sauce from family recipes.

Luan, whose family makes “age-old Chinese soy sauce,” opens soybeans to reveal the key ingredient used by all: the shiny, pearly seeds within. For a distinct Japanese flavor, Haru adds “toasty wheat,” while Yoo-mi’s spicy-sweet Korean soy sauce requires the addition of jujubes and chilis.

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Mary Cornish: the best way to count

~ jama ~ 34 Comments

“Numbers have life; they’re not just symbols on a page.” ~ Shakuntala Devi

“Five Sparrows” by Nemoto Kagai (1960).
NUMBERS
by Mary Cornish

I like the generosity of numbers.
The way, for example,
they are willing to count
anything or anyone:
two pickles, one door to the room,
eight dancers dressed as swans.

I like the domesticity of addition—
add two cups of milk and stir—
the sense of plenty: six plums
on the ground, three more
falling from the tree.

And multiplication's school
of fish times fish,
whose silver bodies breed
beneath the shadow
of a boat.

Even subtraction is never loss,
just addition somewhere else:
five sparrows take away two,
the two in someone else's
garden now.

There's an amplitude to long division,
as it opens Chinese take-out
box by paper box,
inside every folded cookie
a new fortune.

And I never fail to be surprised
by the gift of an odd remainder,
footloose at the end:
forty-seven divided by eleven equals four,
with three remaining.

Three boys beyond their mothers' call,
two Italians off to the sea,
one sock that isn't anywhere you look.

~ from Red Studio (Oberlin College Press, 2007).

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“Plums” by Jadwiga Luyten-Behnisch.

Whenever I read this poem I marvel at how it captivates and surprises me in the best possible way. It’s remained as fresh and charming as when I first saw it fifteen years ago at A Year of Reading (thanks, Mary Lee!).

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Katherine Herrell’s Whimsical World

~ jama ~ 10 Comments

If there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s a soup can. Created by Atlanta, GA illustrator and designer Katherine Herrell, this charming painting caught my eye while browsing Pinterest recently.

It checks all the right boxes: vibrant colors, hand lettering, whimsical, a little quirky, playful, joyful and just plain fun. Actually, I’d been admiring Herrell’s work before I even knew who she was (having purchased Natural Life greeting cards featuring her art). The energy and positivity that characterize her designs are unmistakable and hard to miss once you’ve seen a few samples. Love her inspirational quotes, cozy animals, and gorgeous flowers. Her pattern designs just pop!

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nibbling on The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Poems by Charles Ghigna and Eric Carle

~ jama ~ 48 Comments

Nibble, munch, burp! Ever since the world’s most famous caterpillar ate his way through his now iconic 1969 book, generations of curious, intrigued and thoroughly delighted kids have hungered for more.

Since Eric Carle’s passing in 2021, World of Eric Carle has continued to publish a series of new titles featuring artwork from his vast archives, including interactive board books, lift-the-flap books, and engaging concept books. Despite all these wonderful offerings, they hadn’t published any collections of original poems — until now.

That’s why we’re especially pleased to see The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Poems written by none other than our favorite Father Goose, Charles Ghigna. It’s officially out Tuesday, February 17. 🙂

As Charles wrote me, “I first met Eric many years ago at a three-day book festival. We became fast friends and spent much of our off time talking, laughing, and brainstorming book ideas. One of our big ideas was to create a book of ‘first poems.’ He thought my poems would be the perfect compliment to his colorful art. He would be so happy to see our dream finally come true.”

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[author chat] Books on Horseback by Candice Ransom and Massimiliano di Lauro

~ jama ~ 15 Comments

Happy National Library Lover’s Month!

We’re happy to welcome back Virginia author Candice Ransom to discuss her new historical fiction picture book, Books On Horseback: The Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, illustrated by Massimiliano di Lauro (Reycraft Books, 2026).

Safe to say, most of us are avid book lovers and consider the public library an essential part of our lives, yet at times we may have taken our local libraries and the privilege of free access to reading materials for granted. You’re probably aware that bookmobiles bring library services to underserved rural or urban communities.

But did you know that during the Great Depression, “book ladies” were hired by the WPA to deliver books on horseback, mules, or even on foot to remote areas of the Appalachians? Candice’s story takes us to geographically isolated Eastern Kentucky, where many people did not have access to books at all. We follow Book Lady Marjorie and her horse Boots as they interact with appreciative readers along their route.

Between 1936 and 1943, nearly 1,000 stalwart librarians rode through forty-two Kentucky counties, traveling on average eighteen miles per day. They delivered to schools, churches, community centers and individual homes, carrying books in saddlebags, hickory baskets and even pillow cases.

Like me, you’ll probably be inspired by these fearless women, traveling along rocky creek beds, up steep hills and down into the hollows in wind, rain, sleet or snow. As this story shows, the packhorse librarians did more than just deliver books, and it’s heartening to know that even during the hardest of times our government prioritized the right to read and sponsored free access to information for all its citizens.

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