N4L 008: "Mountain Chef" by Annette Bay Pimentel

Annette Bay Pimentel, author and researcher, came across a 1915 photograph of several men wearing suits and sitting on logs that surround a table set with white linen and china. Behind them stands a Chinese man wearing an apron. The cook is Tie Sing, the main character in her book Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service. Evidently, millionaire and Sierra-Club member Stephen Mather hired Tie Sing, "the best trail cook in California," to feed his special guests on a camping trip. Against the odds, he managed to keep the men fed with “gourmet meals as fine as any you’d find in a San Francisco restaurant.” Pimentel includes authentic, mouth-watering menus. After trekking through the pristine California wilderness, these thought leaders became advocates for creating a National Park Service. Pimentel's book provides a springboard for discussing politics with children. She manages to gently broach the still-prickly topics of citizenship, discrimination, and immigration at a level children can understand. Illustrator Rich Lo ignites every page with brilliantly colored pencil drawings and watercolor washes. His own family story of parents immigrating from Hong Kong to the United States mirrors the story of Tie Sing. Lo has illustrated just one other children’s nonfiction book, Father’s Chinese Opera, which is based on his personal history.  Pimentel hopes Tie Sing will be a model to kids when they face setbacks. She also hopes they will come to appreciate the many people of large and small importance who've helped build our country. According to Pimentel, this is a “golden age for kids’ nonfiction.” As proof, she cites the newly established the Sibert Informational Book Medal for nonfiction picture books and a middle-grade or young-adult book. The Newberry Medal and the Caldecott Medal in the last 15-20 years have been awarded to an increasing number of nonfiction books. We're also seeing more back matter, bibliographies, and source quotations in books. Since Common Core was adopted, school teachers are using much more nonfiction. BUY Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service (Carter G Woodson Award Book (Awards)) Music Credit Sound Editing Credit