Cooking With Henry and Elliebelly

Written by Carolyn Parkhurst. Illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2010.

Oh, the joys of siblings! Anyone who has a younger brother or sister will relate to this spot-on book. Henry is five years old, and his little sister, Elliebelly, is two. They are playing at having their very own cooking show, "Cooking With Henry and Elliebelly." On the menu today is raspberry-marshmallow-peanut butter waffles with barbecued banana bacon (I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty awesome to me). As they "record" their show, Elliebelly keeps interjecting "suggestions" - like wearing a pirate hat instead of a chef hat, adding pizza to the list of ingredients, and including her doll in the show. Henry yells to his mom, who is presumably in the other room, off camera, and she gives him very helpful, "mom" advice, such as "work it out, you two" (that must be in the mom manual, because I've heard that expression before from my own mom). The show continues on, as Henry patiently works with his sister, and soon the pretend food is ready. Thankfully, Mom made some real waffles, because they are both hungry.

This book is delightful! The interactions between Henry and Elliebelly are very accurate, and I found myself chuckling at Henry's expressions and Elliebelly's joyful insistance on doing things a certain way. As the oldest of three, I found myself looking back on how my sister and I used to play together when we were little, and I could totally relate (although we never played a cooking show, thank goodness). The characters are perfectly illustrated to display their personalities. Elliebelly is so exuberant with her butterfly wings, big smile, and curly hair, while Henry has a look of resignation, as his show gets very off-track. The dialogue is also very clever, with Henry's text in black, and Elliebelly's in red. This is a perfect package of sibling togetherness and playing pretend. Check it out, and I promise you'll laugh in recognition!