Spanish / Mexico
Sabor
(Taste)
Chirif, Micaela
(text)
Medina, Ignacio
(text)
Antinori, Andrea
(illus.)
México: Editorial Océano de México, 2023. – [84] p.
(Series: Océano Travesía)
ISBN 978-607-557-662-6
Taste | Flavour | Non-fiction | Picture book
Reading age: 5+
White Ravens issue: 2023
The cut open watermelon emblazoned on the cover gives us a foretaste: this book speaks to the senses. Readers learn not only how amazing and multifaceted the sense of taste in humans (and animals) is. It is also quite possible that, while you are reading, a delightful taste will buzz through your head, or you will notice your mouth watering. What does the tongue do? Why do we have a soft spot for sweets? How does a spicy onion become sweet and then bitter? Is spicy a flavour or a painful feeling? Where is the boundary between tasting and smelling? This book compellingly approaches these questions from inside a child’s world of experience. In texts, which employ an at times informative, at other times narrative, and sometimes almost lyrically light language, Micaela Chirif and Ignacio Medina ask everyday questions and give lucid, concrete answers. Andrea Antinori’s inventive and detailed colour illustrations grace the book with further wit, verve, and airiness. [JW]