Chil­dren’s

Chick­en Soup, Chick­en Soup

Pamela May­er; Deb­o­rah Mel­mon, illus.

  • Review
By – March 27, 2017

Sophie has two grand­mas, one Jew­ish and one Chi­nese. Both make chick­en soup, one with car­rots and kre­plach, one with green onions and won­tons. Whose soup is bet­ter? This touchy sub­ject is nice­ly resolved when Sophie invites both grand­mas to bring over soup for lunch. As the grand­mas check out each other’s pots, Sophie and her father pour the two soups togeth­er into one tureen. That’s when Bubbe con­fess­es that she uses won­ton wrap­pers to make her kre­plach, and Nai Nai admits she buys kosher chick­en because the fla­vor is bet­ter. A lit­tle Jew­ish, a lit­tle Chi­nese — a lot like me,” says Sophie.

This is a won­der­ful book both for mul­ti­eth­nic fam­i­lies and for devel­op­ing sen­si­tiv­i­ty to mul­ti­eth­nic fam­i­lies as well as for any­one inter­est­ed in cul­tur­al sim­i­lar­i­ties in food. Water­col­or and pen­cil illus­tra­tions are cheery and bright, with won­der­ful end­pa­pers which enhance the book’s artis­tic feel.

Recipes for chick­en soup, kre­plach and won­tons are included.

Teri Mark­son has been a children’s librar­i­an for over 18 years. She is cur­rent­ly the act­ing senior librar­i­an at the Val­ley Plaza Branch Library in North Hol­ly­wood, CA.

Discussion Questions