Stacy Russo

I wanted to read this picture book because I recently read a novel in stories by this author, [book:Stella Peabody's Wild Librarian Bakery and Bookstore: A Novel-in-Stories|59449573], that was written after this book.

I particularly enjoy the author’s artwork and thought a children’s picture book by her would be my cup of tea. That vegan recipes are included in this first book too was a selling point.

I loved the illustrations. They’re handmade collage paintings created with recycled magazine paper, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors, and Derwent watercolor pencils. I love the intricate pictures, the way the author uses color and both bright and more subtle faded shades.

The frosting recipes are my favorite kind. All the recipes look good and are some of the ones that ended up in the novel. I don’t own any kind of electric mixer so likely won’t be making any of the recipes but I’d love to lend out this book to children/families.

I like the idea of the story of a woman making her dreams come to fruition.

I would recommend this book for school aged children and their families, especially vegan and vegan friendly families, but any families really. The story would be okay as a read aloud but there is so much text, including text in little boxes, and some of the content is about real people that maybe aren’t likely to interest preschoolers, although the youngest children can enjoy the art, the basic story, and definitely the baked goods. Independent readers are likely to enjoy it the most, as are families. It would make a great gift for a vegan or vegan friendly family that could enjoy baking together.

I love that more and more vegan themed books are out there and love that this picture book includes several tasty looking recipes and that they’re all vegan. I also like vegan bakeries and bookstores are among my favorite places (and the only sorts of stores I truly enjoy) and I enjoy reading about them in books too. I can see how the other book, the novel in stories, came from this book. I’m happy to have read both of them.

3-1/2 stars… (mais)

I was incredibly eager to read this book and requested that my public library purchase it. I was happy when they did. When the author offered to send me a copy I was thrilled. I’d had a copy on reserve at the library but this is the sort of book I want to own, and I’ll treasure it. I will say that the author said there was no pressure on me to even read it. She included a wonderful “chocolate before noon” sticker and a lovely card with art from the Women’s Wisdom Collection and she wrote me a nice note. If I hadn’t received the book as a gift I’d definitely have read a library copy as soon as I could have gotten one. I’m eager to read all the author’s other books, those for children and those for adults. I’m particularly interested in reading her two children’s books.

Highly recommending this book to many.

Memorable characters!!! It therefore was fine when I could read only 6 days out of 8 days. The story stayed close to my mind & heart for the 8 days, and I am sure it will stay with me in the future too. I’ve been struggling with reading and my intention was to read one story a day. This book did help me get out of my reading slump.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think readers with a spiritual bent might enjoy it even more than I did. Definitely recommended for almost all vegans, people who love the idea of a combination bookstore/bakery, readers who appreciate community and enjoy reading about it. Just see how many of my shelves it’s on and it will be apparent that this book might appeal to a wide variety of readers.

I love books about books and it helped that I’d read a few of the books/writings mentioned in this book. I read it a long time ago but I remember really liking Women Who Run with the Wolves . Some of the books/poems/writings I haven’t read I now have some interest in reading most of them.

I suggest reading this without knowing too much. I did that and was delighted with what transpired.

I appreciate stories with vegan characters. I appreciate the diversity of the characters included in this story/these stories.

I love baked goods and vegan recipes. I love that the recipes in this book have “perfect pairings” included, not of wine but of books.

I love the motto “chocolate before noon.”

I wish this wasn’t a novel or at least wish that the bakery was real. I want to spend a lot of time there. I’d like to move right in. I’ve never had a place like this to hang out and the author envisioned what is for me a perfect place. It was a balm to my soul to just read about this place.

Some great quotes:

“How does one move on when a major part of your life stopped on a certain day, but you’re still alive?”

“ We never know how we will really act until something is upon us.”

“…some tough things in life we can’t overcome, and others we can.”

“…but there is a magic with books.”

“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” (This is a quote by Joseph Campbell.)

There are six linked short stories that make up the novel. Fast readers might want to read the short novel in one sitting but I think the best way to read this book is reading one story a day. The stories do make up a novel and each story also stands on its own. The only exception is the sixth/last story that I know I found richer reading it after having read the previous five stories.

First story: The Closet Romantic. It definitely went in an unexpected direction and was sadder than I’d expected, but was entertaining, and really lovely. For me it felt sad in a thoughtful vs. depressing way. I love the books and bookstores, and the vegan baked goods. Recipes from the first story: Poet’s Beer Bread; Enchanted Lemon Pecan Cupcakes.

Second story: Women and Wolves. I looked up the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos. I have loved wolves since 1976 when I read Never Cry Wolf. Cancer story. The game Clue. The book club. Recipes from the second story: Coconut Jazz Muffins; Wild Women Blueberry Muffins.

Third story: Dr. Freud, an Avocado Tree, and the Goddess Spaceship. Another moving, sometimes sad, story with an unexpected twist. I have always loved cancer stories I have a Goodreads shelf for books that have them, but I’ve noticed that since one of my oldest and closest friends died from cancer a bit over a year ago I don’t gravitate to them nearly as much anymore. I find that interesting since my mother dying of cancer when I was eleven and my own gene mutations putting me at extremely high risk for cancers were most of what made me interested in reading them. I’ve wanted a vegetable & herb garden my whole life but oh I would give anything to have an avocado tree! Recipes from the third story: Taos Bread; Judy’s bread.

Fourth story: The Pilgrim. A house and yard and library to covet. Recipes from the fourth story: Scandalous Strawberry Cupcakes; Rose Pistachio Desire Cupcakes.

Fifth story: Visions. I loved this story. I wanted to see all of Tom’s art pieces. I love the name Henry, and the name Jane too. Recipes from the fifth story: Magical Day Muffins; Walt’s Banana Spice Muffins.

Sixth story: Love Walks into the Bakery. Oh, the man. The dogs. The mother. The house. The food garden. Perfect garden. My interest in gardening has always been with practical plants/foods. Even the few flowers happen to be my favorites. The art. The anniversary celebration. Recipes from the sixth story: On the Road Chocolate Cupcakes; Lover’s Cake.

I could say so much about each chapter but different readers are going to find different meanings in each story in this book. I made notes to remind me of some of what I found significant and unforgettable for me. I also didn’t want to write too much/spoilers.

Great cover. One lovely small drawing. I wish there were more. I’ve seen some of the author’s art online and I love it. It’s spectacular and I’m enough of a fan that I’d enjoy it on my walls.

My only quibble is that the print in the paperback is too tiny for my eyes, and I do already wear progressives. I don’t have this problem with most books I read. I prefer paper books but this is one instance when an e-book might help so that font size could be increased. I have a magnifying sheet but it’s too large to use comfortably with this size paperback book. I did eventually get used to the small print but I don’t know if some readers might find it difficult to read throughout.

I also wish that there were photos of the baked goods but this isn’t primarily a cookbook and I understand that the cost to include color photos of food would have likely been prohibitive. Except for the ones with coconut and coconut and rum they all look scrumptious to me and they don’t look too hard to make. I don’t like coconut or rum but I know that many do, and almost everyone seems to like coconut.

Happy and sad, like real life. Overall, it left me with an uplifting and satisfied feeling, although slightly sad about my life but with good food for thought. There are some twists and turns and the endings are not predictable, which surprised me more than once and all of which I appreciated.

All the time I was reading the book I was thinking 4-1/2 stars but I wasn’t sure if I’d downgrade it to 4 or upgrade it to 5 stars. I was learning toward the former until the end when I read “A Note from the Author: Writing a Community Novel.” That brought the entire book up to 5 stars for me. I fervently hope that the author’s dream will come to fruition and I would be tempted to relocate to be near such a place and at the least would do my best to make a visit to it. My only request, since I am not a coffee drinker, would be for the place to have plenty of water on hand and maybe some teas or other beverages for sale in addition to coffee.

There is one page at the end with 10 book club discussion questions. They’re excellent. I’d love to read this book with my real world book club. I started it in 2005 and our first meeting was In January 2006. We’ve faded a lot over the last several years but we’re not dead yet, and I formed it as a vegan book club so I could always eat at meetings. Most of us are vegan though there are a couple of vegetarians and maybe some of the new people are omnivores but when we meet in person together we eat 100% vegan. I think that this book would be a good one for us to discuss.

There is also a “About the Author” page at the very end of the book.

Because Goodreads no longer allows external links I am posting the following not as links:

https:// www. wildlibrarianbakery. com/ about

https: //stacy-russo .com/

https: //litwinbooks. .com/. books/wild-librarian-bakery-and-bookstore/
and https: //litwinbooks .com /?s=russo… (mais)