Peeny Butter Fudge

August 24, 2009
“12:00 Lunch, 1:15 Nap, 2:25 Playground...” read Mama's instructions, posted to the fridge. But when three children spend the afternoon with Nana, the schedule is forgotten. No TV for them: it's stories (“Fairies, dragons everywhere./ Creepy things under the stairs”), potato sack races, dancing to music from a record player and making “peeny butter fudge” (recipe included). The only moment of doubt occurs when Mama comes home to find three fudge-splattered children and a wreck of a kitchen. But the smell of fudge triggers a mental photograph of Mama making fudge as a child (“My mother taught me,” Nana tells the children, “and I taught yours”), and the story ends with a hug. Cepeda's (Mice and Beans
) smudgy, intensely colored paintings keep the action moving and convey a house overflowing with warmth. The Morrisons' (The Book of Mean People
) slant rhyme text is occasionally slapdash (“Peeny butter, peeny butter/ Nana is the best grandmother”), but versifying rules are for grownups. This is a vision of family life that many kids, rushed from soccer practice to violin lessons, will regard with envy. Ages 4–8.

September 1, 2009
PreS-Gr 2-When Mom leaves her three children with their exuberant Nana, they play games, hop about in potato sacks, and dance under the chandelier. They also have lunch: "Yummy, lummy. Yummy, lummy./So much happy in the tummy./Look at what our nana made us: /biscuits, ham, and lemonade-us." Their messy fun is apparent as Mom returns while they are making peanut butter fudge. This spirited African-American family is joyfully portrayed in bright oil-paint spreads. Chocolate covers their clothing, food splatters the floor, and the cat peers down from the top of the refrigerator, the freezer door open. The irregular rhymes energize the brief poems, highlighting the love displayed from generation to generation when Grandma shares the cherished family recipe. "My mother taught me, /and I taught yours./Don't ever forget how it's done, /for you will have to pass it on." A scene in which Mom recalls making the dessert when she was a child features wavy lines and muted shades of blue. The illustrations extend the narrative, adding humor and warmth to this offering."Meg Smith, Cumberland County Public Library, Fayetteville, NC"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
Grades K-1 Aday spent at Grandmas is thesubject hereand as the four madly grinning faces on the coversuggest, its a total lovefest. Mom drops her three kids off at the pink-walled abode along with a list of detailed instructions. These edicts are gleefully ignored as Nana takes her grandkids through sack races, fake doctor visits, dancing, and finally thecooking of somepeeny butter fudge. The couplets are conversational, though occasionally they barely rhyme (Peeny butter fudge, / peeny butter fudge. / Mommys coming any minute. / Quick, quick. Lets begin it.). Therhythms, meanwhile, often change mid-stanza without much notice. Thankfully, Cepedas oil-paint illustrations are a perfect mix of earthy and boisterous, using blocky, askew shapes and almost neon coloring to portray both the mystery and clutter of Nanas house. It seems a slight offering until the powerful ending, where disapproving Mom is reminded of her own youth by the smell of the fudge. The concluding recipe gives families a chance toadopt Nanas tradition.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)