ARC Book Review - So, You Want to Be a Chef?: How to Get Started in the World of Culinary Arts

Title: So, You Want to Be a Chef?: How to Get Started in the World of Culinary Arts

Author: J.M. Bedell

Publisher: Aladdin/Beyond Words

# of Pages: 212 (in the digital, ebook ARC)

Release Date: 22 October 2013

Publisher's Summary: Become a full-time foodie with this step-by-step guide to entering the professional world of cooking, baking, and running a culinary business.Designed to inspire creative expression and help aspiring chefs achieve their dreams, So, You Want to Be a Chef?defines the pathways fine dining and cuisine professions, from being a sous chef, pastry chef, or chef de cuisine, to becoming a caterer or restaurateur and more.

In addition to tips from professionals in the industry, So, You Want to Be a Chef? includes inspiring stories from successful young cooks and a full list of resources to help you on your way to chefdom.

Review: One of the perks of being a teacher (and a teacher-librarian) was that I was frequently asked if I wanted to be a taste-tester for my school's culinary arts program.  I was privileged enough to attend a number of restaurant quality meals served to me by my students.  I loved it because the food was always good, but also because it was great to see them shine in an environment that wasn't my classroom.  Let's face it, high school doesn't always do the best thing for a young person's self esteem, but cooking, well, the culinary arts always seemed to bring out the best in my students.  They exuded confidence in ways that I didn't always get to see as their English teacher.  One of the best cultural changes I've seen is the elevation of chefs and cooks to celebrities because it's made the culinary arts a viable and enticing career for students who may not have previously considered it. 

So, You Want to Be a Chef? is a great book because it's the perfect balance of inspiration and hard facts.  Teens whose only exposure to culinary arts is Gordon Ramsey's reality shows may not realize just what's involved in becoming or working as a chef.  This book devotes a chapter to each of the chef positions found in a kitchen.  The chapters not only describe how the responsibilities differ among the positions, but also provide a timetable of what each chef does on a daily basis.  This may be eyeopening for some young chefs (it definitely was for me!) but it isn't in any way discouraging.   There are also chapters about culinary colleges, food in the media, jobs in restaurants, and food research and science.  

My favorite parts of the book, though, were the brief interviews with people who work in the industry.  Some of them were seasoned chefs and restaurateurs, others were food bloggers or magazine editors.   The interviews were honest and didn't stray from the long hours of backbreaking work, but they were also universally positive and inspirational.  And each person interviewed included a favorite recipe, many of which I can't wait to try myself!

This book would absolutely be a great resource for students interested in careers in the culinary arts as well as the teachers and instructors who will help to mold their futures.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

ARC Book Review: Chitchat

Title: Chitchat: Celebrating the World's Languages

Author: Jude Isabella
Illustrator: Kathy Boake

Publisher: Kids Can Press

# of Pages: 44 ((in the digital, ebook ARC))

Release Date: 1 September 2013

Summary: This guide to language takes readers on a trip of the tongue, exploring how languages -- spoken, written and sign -- originate and change over time.

Review: I like languages a lot.  I speak two of them fluently and wrote one of my undergraduate theses on how language impacts learning.  But words (except for the memorization of vocabulary words) are being removed from curricula around the country.  There's no more phonics in elementary classrooms and grammar and usage rules are no longer a part of middle school language arts.  So I really loved the idea of this book because it presents information about language in a way that's incredibly interesting and accessible for tweens and teens. 

I was impressed by how much information was in this book.  It's incredibly comprehensive and covers how we learn to talk as infants as well as the development of languages around the world.  I especially loved the section on Cockney - it's the first explanation I've ever read that made sense during my first read and anyone who knows anything about how cockney is formed knows that's quite a feat! 

I also enjoyed the layout of the book - no section is overly long and the sidebars and boxes do a great job of keeping teens and tweens reading despite short attention spans.  My only criticism of the book is its illustrations.  They're creepy and they distract from the information in the book.  The eyes are especially disconcerting. 

This is definitely a book that I would purchase for my classroom if I still had one and, short of that, it's one that I'll be gifting to my English teacher friends!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars