Pass The Pandowdy, Please: Chewing on History with Famous Folks and Their Fabulous Foods [Hardcover]

25This charming and ambitious selection unites unlikely figures such as Babe Ruth, Queen Victoria, Cleopatra, and Neil Armstrong through the food they enjoyed. Each chapter consists of a spread made up of an amusing watercolor caricature and two blocks of text. Sixteen figures from different time periods are profiled in this slim volume. Dining with da Vinci and A Napkin for Napoleon are two examples of the alliterative chapter headings. Heres an upbeat look at 16 significant historical figures through a colorful thematic lens: food. Yes, they all ate, but each had a different diet depending on available ingredients, customs of their times, and personal needs and preferences. Readers will learn that Cleopatra regarded pickles as a beauty enhancer,that Lincoln was very fond of apples in pandowdy and other dishes, and that Gandhi used fasting as a means of protesting injustice and bringing about change. Each individual is presented on a double-page spread including a few paragraphs of biographical and food-related information as well as a small-print, first-person section written from the biographees point of view. About half the space is devoted to colorful and often humorous line-and-wash caricatures. The back matter includes a recipe for A Nice Pandowdy. Consider this book more of an appetizer or a side dish than a main course, as kids may sometimes lack the background knowledge to understand the historical context. An entertaining addition to history collections. ...a thoroughly entertaining, informative, and down right delightful book ... Just like us, the great movers and shakers of history had to eat, and their favorite foods turn out to be a highly entertaining thread to follow through the history of our small planet. History and biography have never been this tasty! ... Especially appropriate for young readers ages 8 to 11, Pass The Pandowdy, Please is enthusiastically recommended for family, elementary school and community library collections.lSƒ