Cocoa Ice [Hardcover]

Diana Appelbaum (Author), Diana Applebaum (Author), Holly Meade (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1997 | Age Level: 5 and up

Cut-paper pictures of a tropical island of always-summer and a New England village of very long winters accompany the voices of two girls--linked together by a sailor, a gift for imagining life in faraway places, and a taste for iced chocolate. The best tales of long ago tell us much about our own time. This picture book of intertwined lives in the 19th century proves the point beautifully. Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3?A marvelously rich and appealing picture book that satisfies on many levels. Appelbaum tells the stories of two 19th-century girls from faraway lands whose lives are subtly linked and irrevocably changed through their families' occupations. The book opens on the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo where it is always summer and where cacao trees thrive. The young narrator explains how her family harvests, dries, and roasts cocoa beans, which her father then trades on high-rigged schooners from New England for bolts of cloth and the valued commodity?ice. The scene then changes to Maine where a child of the far north describes her family's ice-harvesting operation and export business. Meade's vibrant cut-paper and gouache illustrations capture the action, industry, and natural beauty of each locale. Filled with fascinating, child-centered details and engaging artwork, this wonderful book is a look at the work-intensive past that also conveys the unequaled joy of savoring the fruits of one's labors.?Luann Toth, School Library Journal
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

In the late 19th century, American schooners brought ice, refined sugar, and other goods to Santo Domingo to exchange for cocoa and coffee beans, and out of that Appelbaum spins a fine story of two children who love chocolate ices. In the tropical summer of the island, a girl helps her parents collect, harvest, and prepare cocoa beans, which require a lot of coaxing before the transcendent chocolate flavor is released. She goes with her father when the cocoa is traded to a Yankee mariner; he shares a bag scented with balsam needles, as well as the picture of his niece. The niece, in Maine's hard winter, describes how ice is prepared, cut, and made to keep through the warmer months, and then carried to and traded in Santo Domingo. The strong, flat colors of cut paper and gouache make marvelous images of both endless summer and the seemingly endless winter, and the shared fondness for cocoa ice (as well as a seashell and the balsam bag) enable the girls to reach across their different worlds to connect. A tasty treat. (Picture book. 5-10) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 56 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (NY) (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531300404
• ISBN-13: 978-0531300404
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #788,035 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cocoa Ice, January 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cocoa Ice (Library Binding)

Cocoa Ice shows me two different worlds which is why I really like it. I live in Maine and have seen ice ponds and ice being harvested. It seems silly to us in Maine that people would pay money for ice because it is everywhere in the winter, but when you go someplace hot and tropical you realize the ice is something good. I like having stories that are about girls, and different places and times. Cocoa Ice makes me smile and want hot chocolate.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great mixture of facts and story about a popular substance., January 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cocoa Ice (Hardcover)

This book shows two sides of the historical journey of chocolate from producer to market -- but really it is the personal story of two little girls from two cultures who both enjoy chocolate (what little girl doesn't?). The illustrations are wonderfully evocative. We have to read this book again and again to our 4-year-old for the story, and to our 7-year-old "because it has facts in it." I am ordering extra copies to give for birthday presents for all the upcoming 5-year-old parties.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diana Appelbaum thanks her readers, October 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cocoa Ice (Library Binding)

I am so pleased to have heard from many children and parents who have enjoyed reading CocoaIce together. I hope that some of the parents and teachers who have enjoyed this book, will also enjoy reading BULLOUGH'S POND, a book for grownups published under my childhood name, Diana Muir.