I just signed up for NetGalley and I wanted to get my hands on a book fast. This title was instantly available and I'm glad it was. Between vignettes, factoids, and history about the main foods that shaped human civilization as we know it, I was happy I was given a chance to read this book before I purchase it, which I will be doing.
The structure of the book is an opening page that introduces the main facts, such as Birth, Likes and Dislikes, of each plant. Following this is a vignette of a person's life that may have been affected by the plant in some way in some time period. There is then a history of how the plant effected the world interspersed with facts throughout. I liked the structure in a general way but I thought the vignettes were a bit superfluous. I would have been happy with an extended history or a briefing of how the plant effects us more in the current time period. I also think the sidebar of facts is always exciting, but the history gets into some pretty desolate stuff and having to break to hear about the dates of cotton inventions seems to trivialize it a bit. I think a better use of the space for text would be a reflection on how students could combat things linked to the atrocities that happened in the future. Of course, that's asking a lot of the writer.
Those are my big two complaints about the book. Otherwise, I thought it was a great way for kids to learn how something as seemingly simple as pepper, and other plant items, can have such a huge effect on the world. It would be a really great lesson to compare to oil, the stock exchange or clothing manufacturers of today. I also left with some gained knowledge. I didn't know there was no recorded history of how to make paper out of papyrus or that a fair number of cacao laborers have never actually tasted chocolate.
Intended reading level: Grades 3-5
Non-fiction
Questions to Readers: If you knew that the every day items you ate were destroying the planet or leading to slavery, would you change your purchasing decisions or what you ate? Why or why not? How can we ensure trade frenzies highlighted in this book don't happen in the future? What was the most interesting fact that you learned?
Read-alikes: Big Wig: A Little History of Hair
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