Umami

Limited culinary options create a path for exploration in this playful tale. Situated on a white snowbank against a deep blue sea, a penguin community eats cold fish at every meal (“For dessert? Cold fish. Your birthday? More cold fish”). When penguin Umami finds her birthday meal to be a fish too far, she raises her fork in defiance, announcing, “If there is more exciting food in this world, I will find it!” Crossing the ocean, she discovers a warm-hued sunbaked coast and streets crowded with animalian vendors and endless new foods; “Umami would eat it all.” She samples foods salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and “a taste that shared her name,” until encountering a spicy food suggests inspired next steps that take Umami’s findings home. Grant’s witty oil pastel monoprint and colored pencil art marries technique with expression to illustrate Umami as a happy-belly food bon viveur—sweetly wide-eyed with joy, wonder, and gustatory delight—forging a tasty path in a bountiful world. Ages 3–7. (Oct.)