The Popcorn Astronauts

Starred review from January 12, 2015
The team behind Today at the Bluebird Cafe and A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk reunites for a playful grouping of 21 food-themed poems, organized by season and likely to be as crowd-pleasing as “The Noodles Nibbled Nationwide!/ The Famous Food Celebrities!/ The Couple That You Know and Love!/ The One, the Only, MAC and CHEESE!” (Ruddell knows her audience.) The author is similarly rhapsodic about guacamole and a smoothie of questionable ingredients (“A whisper of pickle/ is what I detect/ with glimmers of turnip/ I didn’t expect”), but making raisins from grapes is another story (“let them go until they look/ like wrinkled rubber rocks/ and have the bold, enchanting taste/ of well-worn pirate socks”). Rankin’s watercolors match Ruddell’s whimsy and enthusiasm ounce for ounce, making for delectable reading. Ages 4–8.

Starred review from December 15, 2014
Ruddell's collection of 21 bite-sized poems whets even the littlest of literary appetites. Divided (sometimes arbitrarily) according to the seasons, her poems hopscotch topic, length and approach but are consistently charming. In rhyming verse, she describes a "lickety-split" spring picnic with green grapes, baked beans "and your bow-wow and your blue jeans." "Speaking of Peaches..." pays tribute to summer's favorite stone fruit, its "flowery fragrance" and "flannelpajamaty skin." Fall's "21 Things to Do with an Apple" is a staccato litany of the apple's many wondrous uses ("Twirl it / Float it / Caramel-coat it"), while winter's "The World's Biggest Birthday Cake" boasts vivid imagery: "The cake was a whopper, and I've heard it said, / the sprinkles alone were the size of your head." Readers may, however, scratch their heads at the odd character-an ogre here or Dracula there (in a Halloween-timed poem). True to form, Rankin's muted watercolors match the whimsy of Ruddell's words. Ants frolic in the icy, pink waters of Watermelon Lake and sunbathe on the pale green shore; children wait anxiously, saltshaker in hand, to pounce on popcorn astronauts in puffy suits hurtling through the air. Animals-cats, dogs, storks and more-smile and smirk with expressive detail. A scrumptious set of food-themed poems for budding gourmets, ripe for hours of read-aloud fun. (Picture book/poetry. 4-10)

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February 1, 2015

K-Gr 3-Organized by the four seasons, these 21 brief poems bring out the tastes of the year. Starting with spring strawberries and ending with a giant birthday cake, each selection teases out the most fantastical, delightful, and sensory elements of everyday food. The Strawberry Queen wears an "elegant suit-which is beaded and red" with a "green, leafy crown." Peaches have "flannelpajamaty skin" while raisins have the "enchanting taste/of well-worn pirate socks." The book includes a delicious variety of forms and all of the poems have elements of surprise and adventure. Even the baked potato-canoes will keep readers on the edge of their seats: "They oozed with steam and sour cream./They were loaded with bacon and chives./But silverware was everywhere-/and they barely escaped with their lives." The illustrations combine jerky lines and irregular proportions with soft, wet watercolor washes to create an absurd dreamy quality that brings even more fun to the book. Pair this yummy book of verse with this creative team's other fanciful poetry volumes: A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems (2009) and Today at the Bluebird Cafe A Branchful of Birds (2007, both S. & S.). VERDICT A must-serve in most collections.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2015
Grades 1-3 The title poem, Popcorn Astronauts, provides an inkling of the curious descriptions of food captured in this collection by the same pair who created A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk (2009). The first spread offers a table of contents, listing the assorted poems21 in alldivided by spring, summer, fall, and winter. (Titles within a season appear in the same color type, which proves to be a useful visual clue within the book.) Pieces vary in length, scheme, and mood. Some are direct, such as 21 Things to Do with an Apple, a list that includes Wash it / Dry it / Apple-pie it. Some only seem straightforward, such as A Smoothie Supreme, a brilliant concoction that includes pickle, mud puddle splashes, and a nubbin of fish. Imagination rules in Welcome to Watermelon Lake! which offers small black boats for summer fun, while Dracula's Late-Night Bite will produce chills. Throughout, flowing watercolor illustrations depicting a mix of species and scenarios add to the surreal, playful effect. Use this to inspire unusual musings.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)