Does anyone else like to do a theme with what they are snacking on and what they are reading? No? That's just me? Well I was in the mood for some popcorn and threw some in the microwave while looking for a popcorn themed book to read. The second I saw this book I had one of those. Oh my god I remember when Mrs. 1st grade teacher read us this book. She read it while we all greedily munched on popcorn. The Popcorn Book is part story part fact giving book. In it two boys are making popcorn while one reads facts about popcorn to the other (I assume they were brothers). Legends and stories are told alongside of facts.
Ok this book is heavy on the feelings of nostalgia for me. It is an older book as it was first published in 1978. So the book is a year older than me! I'm not sure how accurate the facts still are but they are fascinating. One of the things I loved though was when the one boy said he would go look it up and there he was reading the encyclopedia. Kids there was a time when there was no internet let alone google to look up facts. Often you had to go to the library or rely on an ancient set of encyclopedias that were bought who knows how many years prior. I love the combination of the story of the two boys making popcorn with the interesting facts about popcorn.
The illustrations are great and I think they are in a style that children today will still love. Though the colors definitely reek of the 70s.
Rating this one is kind of hard for me. When it comes to nostalgia it is a 5 out of 5. But that is the thing the majority of pleasure I get is from the memory I have of my teacher reading us the book. The facts are wonderful as are the legends but again I don't know how well the facts hold up 40 years later. If were coming in fresh to this book having never heard or seen it before I think it would stand at 2 out of 5. So for nostalgia alone I'll bump it up another star.
3 out of 5 stars.
