story of chocolate!!
great information at the back of the book, including a recipe for the cake baked in the story. ( )

A little girl and her father work together to make chocolate cake for the girl's birthday celebration in this appealing picture-book, while the father also shares his memories of growing up as the son of a chocolate farmer in the Ivory Coast. The girl has never met her grandfather, and is curious about him, and about his farm. The father describes the planting and harvesting of cacao, and the process whereby the beans are dried and prepared for sale. Just as her chocolate cake is almost ready, the girl's mother returns from her mysterious errand, bringing with her a stranger with a familiar voice. It is Grandpa Cacao, visiting from the Ivory Coast for the first time...

Although she has illustrated a number of picture-books prior to this, Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family marks Elizabeth Zunon's debut as both author and artist. The daughter of immigrants from the Ivory Coast, Zunon was born in Albany but spent a great deal of her childhood in her parents' country of origin. It is clear that this family background informs her story, and gives it emotional depth. I appreciated the dual narrative here - the making of the birthday cake vs. the harvesting of cacao - both in the text and in the artwork. Zunon made an astute choice, in depicting the scenes from the father's memory using white, almost see-through screen-printed figures, while the scenes in the here and now are vividly colorful. This works quite nicely to distinguish the two narratives, visually speaking. In her afterword, Zunon discusses the cacao trade, the science and history of chocolate, and her own artistic choices.

Given my own love of chocolate, it was probably a foregone conclusion that I would enjoy Grandpa Cacao, but in the end I found it as engaging as a family story, as it was informative, regarding the process whereby one of my favorite sweets is produced. Recommended to all young chocolate lovers, and to anyone looking for engaging and ultimately heartwarming stories about grandfathers and their grandchildren. ( )