Review - Frankie's Favorite Food

Frankie's Favorite Food
by Kelsey Garrity-Riley
Date: 2019
Publisher: Tundra Books (NY)
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 36
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

A scrumptiously adorable story about a boy, a school play and his love for food. Featuring foods from all over the world, this debut picture book will make you hungry for more!

Frankie has a problem: he has too many favorite foods. He can't bring himself to choose just one to be for the school play, so on the day of the performance, he's still without a costume. His teacher comes up with a delicious idea: what if Frankie becomes the Costume Manager? That way, he can parlay his love of all things culinary into the whole production. From adding some last-minute garnishes to helping the rice and beans into their costumes, Frankie shines backstage until he has a brilliant idea and decides to make his debut on the menu as something that combines his love for all his favorite foods . . .

In this funny and scrumptiously adorable story, readers will delight in the variety of foods represented and the clever performances full of silly word play and sweet camaraderie. In Kelsey Garrity-Riley's author-illustrator debut, she shows the joy of food and revels in celebrating the way food can bring people together and inspire creativity.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is a cute story about a kid who loves food so much that he can't decide on his favourite. All the kids at his school are dressing up as their favourite foods for the end-of-year show. But since Frankie can't decide on a favourite, his teacher makes him the costume manager. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as Frankie helps everyone else be their best food-selves and makes the show run smoothly. And when it's all over, Frankie finally figures out what his costume should be!

There are quite a few puns that might go over kids' heads, but adults will get them. The illustrations are pretty cute, and it's refreshing to see kids' favourite foods being something other than chicken nuggets and goldfish crackers. There's pasta, dumplings, fruit, falafel, and a hapless burrito that runs into a bit of trouble. The pictures are simple and stylized, but they work really well to show off all the different foods.

I quite enjoyed this one. I'll have to watch for more fun stories from this author/illustrator in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tundra Books for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 5/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 5/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4.33 out of 5