Updated: Nov 23, 2021
Isabella Stewart Gardner Builds a Museum
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Neal Porter Books
Holiday House Publishing
(pub.9.7.2021) 40 pages
Author: Candace Fleming
Illustrator: Matthew Cordell
Character: Isabella Stewart Gardner
Overview: "For years, the indomitable Isabella Stewart Gardner searched the world for magnificent artwork and filled her home with a truly unique collection, with the aim of turning it into a museum, which she established in 1903.
Isabella always did things her own way. One day she'd wear baseball gear to the symphony, the next, she'd be seen strolling down the street with zoo lions. It was no surprise that she was very particular about how she arranged her exhibits. They were not organized historically, stylistically, or by artist. Instead, they were arranged based on the connections Isabella felt toward the art, a connection she hoped to encourage in her visitors.
For years, her museum delighted generations of Bostonians and visitors with the collections arranged exactly as she wanted. But in 1990, a spectacular burglary occurred when two thieves disguised as police officers stole thirteen paintings, valued at $500 million, including a Rembrandt and a Vermeer. They have yet to be recovered, though a $10 million reward is still being offered for their safe return." Tantalizing taste:
"New Years Day, 1903. The grand opening.
Visitors circled around her courtyard,
and through her second- and third-floor rooms,
feasting on champagne, doughnuts,
and art -
so much art-
on every wall, on every space,
visitors lingering,
returning
wandering around and
among her objects in awe.
Isabella followed after them,
shouting,
'Don't touch! Don't touch!'
Didn't they know that everything
was carefully arranged,
exactly as Isabella wanted."
And something more: The back matter explains that "It's my pleasure" was her "motto. The words, written in French - "C'est mon plaisir' - are even carved above the entryway to the Italian style palazzo she built and filled with art...There she lived among the objects of her collection. Some of these objects are works of art, but others are things she gathered and used during her life - letters and journals, dishes and teacups, dried leaves and seashells. All are given equal value, great art displayed next to bric-a-brac with no distinction between them... they are all about Isabella and her connections to and feelings toward the art."
Updated: Nov 23, 2021
A Chef's Tale in 13 Bites
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(pub.9.14.2021) 40 pages
Author: Jamie Michalak
& Debbi Michiko Florence
Illustrator: Yuko Jones
Character: Niki Nakayama
Overview: "As a child and adult, Niki faced many naysayers in her pursuit of haute cuisine. Using the structure of a traditional kaiseki meal, the authors Debbi Michiko Florence and Jamie Michalak playfully detail Niki's hunger for success in thirteen "bites" ― from wonton wrappers she used to make pizza as a kid to yuzu-tomatillo sauce in her own upscale Los Angeles Michelin-starred restaurant, n/naka.
To anyone who tells her a woman can't be a master chef, Niki lets her food do the talking. And oh, does it talk. Niki was featured on the first season of ... Chef's Table." Tantalizing taste:
"Next, she wanted to study kaiseki. Niki followed her heart back to Japan, back to her cousins' inn.
Bite 9
But as far as she knew, female kaiseki chefs didn't exist. In Japan, recipes and cooking techniques were handed down from fathers to sons, male mentors to male apprentices.
'You can't,' people told her.
I can, Niki thought.
She tended the garden. She saw snow for the first time. And she discovered how to tell nature's stories through her cooking.'
For three years, Niki watched. Niki learned."
And something more: The Kaiseki section at the back of the book explains: "Kaiseki was first served in sixteenth-century Japan at monastery tea ceremones. It began as a simple vegetarian meal. Over the centuries, it evolved into a feast of many courses, presented in a certain order for a variety of tastes and textures...
Now Chef Niki makes what she calls 'modern kaiseki,' taking the traditional Japanese culinary art form and interpreting it in her own way... Chef Niki loves that kaiseki is about more than just feeding people. At n/naka, she thanks each of her guests personally. 'Kaiseki is about bringing people together,' she says, 'and making people happy through food.'"
Updated: Nov 23, 2021
The Story of the First Black Woman in Congress A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Anne Schwartz Books
(pub.6.1.2021) 48 pages
Author: Alicia D. Williams
Illustrator: April Harrison
Character: Shirley Chisholm
Overview: "Meet Shirley, a little girl who asks way too many questions! After spending her early years on her grandparents' farm in Barbados, she returns home to Brooklyn and immediately makes herself known. Shirley aces school; she breaks her mother's curfew; she plays jazz piano instead of classical. And as a young adult, she fights against the injustice she sees around her, against women and black people. Soon she is running for state assembly...and winning in a landslide. Three years later, she is on the campaign trail again, as the first black woman to run for Congress. Her slogan? "Fighting Shirley Chisholm--Unbought and Unbossed!" Does she win? You bet she does." Tantalizing taste:
"A seat in the New York State Assembly opens - but there's one problem: it has always, always been made up of daring , rebellious, persistent white men. Shirley isn't deterred.
During the campaign, words, words, and more words are thrown at her.
Shirley hears only the most important words, from her father long ago: Make something of yourself."
And something more: Alicia D. Williams writes in the Author's Note: "In 1968, during her run for Congress, Shirley became ill. Just days after having a noncancerous tumor removed, she willed herself back on the campaign trail, announcing: 'This is Fighting Shirley Chisholm and I'm up and around ...' Shirley beat Republican and civil rights activist James Farmer, then hired mainly women - both black and white - as her staff."
