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Naples! #1 (2013)

by Giada De Laurentiis(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Grosset & Dunlap

series

Recipe for Adventure

review 1: I approached this with trepidation, knowing that Giada de Laurentiis has added yet another "dimension" to her celebrity with now writing children's books.Upon being visited by their Zia Donatella, Alfie and Emelia, who's family dinner's consist of take out and pizza ordering, taste home cooked food from simple ingredients and find themselves whisked away to Naples for an adventure of ingredients.This struggled at first to find it's footing, mostly because it struggled to find it's narrator before finally settling on the brother, Alfie. But once that happened and the story of being in Naples was underway (albeit a bit hard to swallow (pun intended) way of getting there), things definitely picked up. It became a cute story of a brother and sister learning to lean on each o... morether but most importantly it's a story of the magic and beauty of cooking. That's why I gave it 3 stars rather than 2. Giada De Laurentiis has a unique perspective on how important cooking and eating is to a family. That part was definitely authentic. She brings directly to the spotlight the idea that cooking food, with fresh ingredients, and then eating that as a family is important. Studies have proven the same idea. So good for her for playing to her strengths and pushing the message, it's a needed one in today's world.Grades 2+.
review 2: Such an easy book for the culinary kid! Or the person who dreams of traveling! Or likes to eat!!This book was one I read in an hour, it was that easy. It is the story of Alfie and his sister who are magically transported to Naples and a pizza making adventure. You can tell that Giada de Laurentiis has been to Naples, as the descriptions of the places are vividly written. Like I didn't need another reason to go to Italy.Another highlight of the book are the Italian words and phrases that pepper the page. Children will delight in learning them! Also.....the food. I know want an authentic Italian pizza with basil, San Marzano tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella =)The dialogue and general writing of the book is not much to write home about. After all, Giada de Laurentiis's first role is that of a celebrity chef. But I would still recommend this easy, safe, delightfully fun read to young readers. Sometimes, when reviewing for children, I'll look past the writing style.Especially considering it's Giada we are talking about ;-) less

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