1 Big Salad

May 23, 2016
When is a counting book not just a counting book? When it’s a recipe, too. Taking readers from one to 10, Medina (Smick) uses loose black lines to transform various photographed vegetables (from a Washington, D.C., farmer’s market, no less, as an art note reveals) into wonderfully expressive animals. The reedy roots of two oblong radishes make perfect mouse tails after Medina draws on ears, legs, and snouts; leafy red lettuce transforms into the manes of “seven radicchio lions”; and in what’s perhaps the best scene, citrus wedges become the bodies of “ten clementine kitties,” shown stretching, leaping, licking themselves, and napping. Adding in avocado, peppers, walnuts, and a few other items, Medina leaves readers with “one big delicious salad”—with no animals harmed in the making. Up to age 3. Agent: Gillian MacKenzie, Gillian MacKenzie Agency.

Starred review from March 1, 2016
Photographs of salad ingredients, embellished with details done in black ink, create whimsical arrays from one through 10. Each expansive, white double-page spread presents a large, bright numeral, its printed name, and a very funny invention, from one Avocado Deer to 10 Clementine Kitties. The ink strokes are playful and active, making the various ingredient-characters come to life. The pages with nine Romaine Dogs are particularly droll, with clever usage of the ups and downs of a lettuce leaf combining with the artist's swift pen strokes to show familiar canine antics. Less is decidedly more: after the alliteration of Tomato Turtles, it is refreshing to see Cucumber Alligators rather than Cucumber Crocodiles, and the text for the number eight meanders cheerfully from the established, animal-titling routine by showing eight Flying Walnuts, not Walnut Birds. The ingredients range from familiar to gourmet, with radicchio producing delightful manes on seven lions. Toddlers may giggle as they learn numbers and practice counting, while slightly older children will want to get out their markers and try to emulate the artwork. The counting ends gracefully with a wooden bowl full of all 10 goodies and a recipe for dressing. Even the endpapers are entertaining, crammed with tiny reproductions of the photographs. From layout to text to artwork, this counting book takes "playing with your food" to a new level. (Picture book. 2-4)

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Starred review from May 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 1-Starting with one avocado deer and working up to 10 clementine kittens, the anthropomorphic fruits and veggies in this counting concept book come together to create one big and appealing salad. A recipe for a healthy and simple dressing is included on the last page, along with some playful lemon pigs, a porcupine-ish dish of olive oil, and a flying saltshaker bird. This whimsical book features a salad that takes kids beyond mere lettuce to encounter more sophisticated garden delicacies, like maroon radicchio lions, vibrantly green romaine dogs, and juicy orange clementine kittens. The illustrations contain a great variety of fruit and veggie shapes and colors. For instance, there are purple carrots, oblong radishes, and tomatoes in shades of yellow and green as well as red. Created digitally, in combination with fresh fruits and veggies from the University of the District of Columbia's Farmers Market, the images use white space and color to great effect. The veggies and fruits, augmented with arms, legs, ears, antlers, and wings created with confident and bold, swooping black lines, stand out against the crisp white background. Minimal text is printed in a large font that pops off the page. Numbers are printed as numerals and written out (1 and one).

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