Every Week On Wednesday Night: Our Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki

EVERY WEDNESDAY WE COME TOGETHER IN THIS LITTLE KITCHEN.

The cooks are a random crew, a curly-haired kid and his mom, a chubby lady with an apron and a determined look, a tall man setting up a huge coffee pot are there for their weekly job in a small community kitchen. As more helpers come in, carrying assorted foodstuffs, the volunteers begin to forage through the fridge, finding carrots formerly overlooked, ten leftover radishes, while others peel potatoes, rummage up some celery to chop, and a team culls the garden, grabbing the lettuce that the bugs missed, picking some ripe zucchinis and tomatoes of all sizes and shapes. And then there are the donated items from the back of the pantry--

BEANS FROM A FOOD BANK? THIRD WEEK IN A ROW?

I'M OUT OF IDEAS! WHAT ABOUT YOU?

BUT IT'S WHAT WE'VE GOT. WE'LL USE THEM SOMEHOW.

There are three bags of apples, some with bad spots, but the rest are still good, so the baker cuts the good parts up and tosses them into the baking pan. She stirs together some sugar and cinnamon with some oatmeal, and yes, there's plenty of butter in the refrigerator, and the apple crisp is soon in the oven, smelling heavenly. The beans are in a bubbling cauldron of chili. The salad is tossed, and the coffee urn is perking.

Day-old loaves from the bakery are warmed to freshen them--just as good as new!

SIZZLE, CHOP! CHOP! SPRINKLE! SLICE! PICK! PEEL!

Now we're cookin'!

And as the early-bird diners begin to wander in, setting up the chairs and tables and catching up on their week while they cop a cup of steaming coffee, it all comes together for a feast of friendship, in the Caldecott-winning author-illustrator Julian Tamaki's latest, Our Little Kitchen (Abrams Books, 2020).

Like the famous loaves and fishes, like the beloved Stone Soup of folklore fame, the food comes together, abundant enough each week to feed everyone, with leftovers for the still hungry, in the little community kitchen pictured so piquantly in Tamaki's heartwarming story. Her energetic art fills the pages with movement as the diverse volunteer crew bustles about, each one pitching in to do what they can in a beautiful story of community affection and effort. As Horn Book's starred review says, "A sense of effervescent improvisation pervades the tale, through its cookery detail and the text’s rhythm and design... Exudes vibrancy, warmth, individuality, and purpose."