Fannie in the Kitchen : The Whole Story From Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements [Hardcover]

Deborah Hopkinson (Author), Nancy Carpenter (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Anne Schwartz Books

Marcia was trying to help her mama. So maybe balancing on top of a tower of chairs to dip candles wasn't such a good idea. And perhaps her biscuits worked better as doorstops than dessert. Still, does her mama really need to hire a mother's helper?

Then Fannie Farmer steps into their kitchen, and all of a sudden the biscuits are dainty and the griddle cakes aren't quite so...al dente. As Fannie teaches Marcia all about cooking, from how to flip a griddle cake at precisely the right moment to how to determine the freshness of eggs, Marcia makes a wonderful new friend.

Here's the story "from soup to nuts" -- delightfully embellished by Deborah Hopkinson -- of how Fannie Farmer invented the modern recipe and created one of the first and best-loved American cookbooks. Nancy Carpenter seamlessly incorporates vintage engravings into her pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations, deliciously evoking the feeling of a time gone by.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Young Marcia Shaw is not thrilled to hear that a mother's helper named Fannie Farmer is joining her Victorian household to cook for the growing family. Somehow, though, it's hard to complain when suddenly the blueberry pies are "sweeter than a summer sky" and the biscuits are "small, light, and flaky. Just delicious." In spite of herself, Marcia quickly becomes an avid fan and ardent student of Fannie, even encouraging her to begin writing precise instructions to her cookery magic, thus spawning one of the first published cookbooks, Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, a.k.a. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

Considered the pioneer of the modern recipe, Fannie Farmer transformed countless kitchens into oases of exact measurements and perfect cooking. Deborah Hopkinson's fictionalized account, complete with original griddle cakes recipe, is a warm, humorous take on the real Fannie Farmer. Nancy Carpenter created splendidly original illustrations for the book, manipulating 19th-century etchings and engravings and blending them with her own watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations. Wonderful! (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

Prepared to perfection and served up with style, this historical nugget imagines an interlude in the life of cookbook pioneer Fannie Farmer, who, prior to her stint at the Boston Cooking School, worked as a mother's helper. As Hopkinson (Maria's Comet) envisions it, the daughter of the house--who has a touch of the Eloise gene--is not at all pleased with Fannie's arrival. "I'm your helper," the spunky Marcia protests to her mother, but she soon becomes an acolyte: "Fannie seemed like a magician who could make mashed potatoes fluffier than clouds and blueberry pies sweeter than a summer sky." Marcia's many culinary flops, on the other hand, from discovering that she has cracked a rotten egg into her batter to flipping a griddle cake onto the cat, ultimately inspire the unflappable Fannie to write down precise instructions in a precursor to her immortal cookbook. Cleverly served up in seven brief "courses," the proceedings are garnished with Carpenter's irreverent illustrations, which seamlessly incorporate period engravings within pen-and-wash drawings. Her scenes wittily spoof Victorian decorum, whether showing the perfectly coiffed and coutured lady of the house greedily licking her plate or the initially sullen Marcia, slumped in a chair with her back to the reader, her scowl reflected in a pair of water glasses, a gravy boat and a decanter. The biographical afterword and an appended pancake recipe are simply icing on the (griddle) cake. Ages 4-9.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers; First edition edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068981965X
• ISBN-13: 978-0689819650
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 8.8 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #450,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #79 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Whole Foods

More About the Author

Deborah Hopkinson is the award-winning of picture books, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers. She has won the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text twice, for A Band of Angels and Apples to Oregon. Her book, Sky Boys, How They Built the Empire State Building, was a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor awardee. Her recent works include Michelle, First Family, Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, an ALA Notable, Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole, which won a 2009 Oregon Book Award, and Stagecoach Sal, named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2009. She serves as Vice President for Advancement at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful for classroom use, May 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Fannie in the Kitchen : The Whole Story From Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements (Hardcover)

I am an educator who likes to use historical fiction with elementary students. Students love the story of FANNIE IN THE KITCHEN, and we have also used the book to talk about how cooking has changed over the years. I bring in old kitchen utensils from antique stores to show them. (Many kids can't identify a sifter, to say nothing of a butter mold! And when was the last time you saw a doughnut cutter??) We also use the book as a jumping off point to talk about math and measurements.

Although this is clearly a humourous, fictionalized take-off on a footnote to history, students and I also enjoy talking about how young Marcia must adjust to change, as her mother has a new baby. The way the illustrator depicts the developing relationship between Marcia and Fannie is delightful.

As the author note states, Fannie Farmer was one of the first to recommend precise measurements in cooking. What a fun way for kids to be introduced to this 19th century figure

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Delicious....., August 8, 2001

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fannie in the Kitchen : The Whole Story From Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements (Hardcover)

Little Marcia was not very happy the day her mother announced that before the new baby's born, a woman named Fannie Farmer was coming to live with them to cook and be a mother's helper. Marcia didn't think her mother needed any more helpers. She could already wash the clothes until they were spotless, polish the oil lamps until they shined and even make candles. Though she tried to discourage this mother's helper idea, Fannie Farmer arrived right on schedule. Marcia tried to dislike her, but Fannie's easy manner and engaging ways made them fast friends in no time. In fact, Fannie was an excellent cook and willing to teach and share her culinary knowledge and pretty soon, Marcia was cooking perfect biscuits and pancakes, choosing the ripest melons at market and even testing the freshness of eggs. There was only one big problem. Fannie had all that information in her head and it was way too much for Marcia to remember. "...what if I wrote out precise instructions for you? Then you could cook exactly as I do." And just like that, the Fannie Farmer Cookbook was born..... Deborah Hopkinson has taken some historical facts, mixed in a little fiction and written a delightful picture book about Fannie Farmer and her creation of the modern recipe and cookbook. Her clever story, divided into "courses" instead of chapters, is charming, witty and includes some of Fannie's helpful cooking hints. Nancy Carpenter's wonderfully inventive artwork combines period engravings with pen and ink watercolor illustrations, which complement the story beautifully and give the book a real turn of the century look and feel. With "Fannie Farmer's Famous Griddle Cakes" recipe included, as well as a short biography at the end of the story to fill in more detail, Fannie in the Kitchen is just perfect for youngsters 4-8 and it's a safe bet to assume that you'll be eating delicious, made from scratch pancakes, in the very near future.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARM AND FUNNY!, May 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Fannie in the Kitchen : The Whole Story From Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements (Hardcover)

The illustrations in this book are hilarious! My kids just love the pictures and they want to cook "Fannie Fanner Griddle Cakes" all the time!