Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth

Environmental chefs, / here's a recipe for you/ to fix from scratch/ to mix a batch/ of Compost Stew, invites a girl with curly titian hair. Letters stand for different components of what goes into a compost pile, and Wolff's cut-paper collages depict a multicultural group of kids, as well as a dalmatian and a goose, working together to collect material (Dirt clods, crumbled, / Eggshells, crushed/ Fruit pulp left behind, all mushed): And when the cooking is complete, / Mother Earth will/ have a treat, / dark and crumbly, / rich and sweet. An exuberant primer for green-minded kids. Ages 48. "(Mar.)"

Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

K-Gr 4 An easy recipe for soil enrichment. Well written in rhyming text, the descriptive phrases are as engaging as a list of, well, garbage might be: "Dirt clods, crumbled/Eggshells crushed/Fruit pulp left behind, all mushed/Grass clippings/Hair snippings/and an Insect or two/Just add to the pot/and let it all rot/into Compost Stew." Collage illustrations, also made of recycled ingredients, reinforce the theme of reusing materials to create something new. As colorful and charming as the compositions are, the human and animal figures are flat and uninspiring. Student environmental groups might use this recipe to expand school recycling efforts and create compost for vegetable and flower gardens, or to give away to community members. Using cafeteria scraps, recycled paper, and grass clippings would teach students how to make this rich, robust stew work for their own school gardens and, literally and figuratively, improve the earth. This book is recommended as a general addition to library collections and a primary selection for in-school environmental education. Use it with Linda Glaser's "Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow" (Millbrook, 2010), Raymond Bial's "A Handful of Dirt" (Walker, 2000), or Bianca Lavies's "Compost Critters" (Dutton, 1993)."Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review, CM Magazine, October 15, 2010:
"An imaginative and engaging introduction to the concept of composting."

Review, Through the Looking Glass, June 1, 2010:
"This wonderful rhyming picture book will show children how easy, and how fun, composting can be."

Review, San Francisco Chronicle
"Bouncy rhymes and busy collage art zip along as everything from apple cores to zinnia heads gets tossed into a rich and rotting soil-bound mix. A potentially heavy-handed message is delivered with a light touch so that you want to start your own waste heap right away. Mission accomplished!"

Review, Washington Post
"When it comes to promoting environmentalism, there's no harm in starting young....Ashley Wolff's collage-style illustrations, made from newspaper, tea bags and other recycled materials, echo writer Mary McKenna Siddals's message of reducing waste."

Review, Booklist
"This title highlights a subject rarely covered in youth books and provides a lighthearted introduction to an earth- and kid-friendly activity. The brightly patterned collage artwork featuring a cast of multicultural kids working together will easily draw a young audience."

Compost Stew is beautiful, poetic, evocative—and educational. It provides such vital, important information for children (and adults) to understand and embrace, and to put into practice! This book greatly respects its readers, and I hope it will become as widely read and popular as it deserves.
-Mollie Katzen, author of Moosewood Cookbook and Pretend Soup