Follow the Recipe: Poems About Imagination, Celebration, and Cake (Hardcover)

Author: Marilyn Singer

Illustrator: Marjorie Priceman

Publisher: Dial Books (2020)

For ages 4-8

This delicious collection of poems by the innovative Marilyn Singer is accompanied by vibrant splashy artwork by two-time Caldecott honoree Marjorie Priceman. Presented in a small-size format to appeal to older readers (as well as young), the book has the look of a vintage collector's compendium that includes pictures, ephemera and annotations to add interest. Even young children are familiar with recipes––a series of steps to help them make something––and the book begins with simple dishes and ideas (such as a recipe for reading a recipe and a recipe for measuring), and then adds more ideas and grows in sophistication until the last recipes broach lofty concepts (such as a recipe for understanding and a recipe for peace). A treasure of words and images and ideas.

"Singer mixes rhymes, free verse and various forms, and gives Priceman's impressionistic illustrations—in gouache, linoleum print and collage—plenty of room to shine: After all, she acknowledges, 'We eat first with our eyes.'" 

–New York Times Book Review

"Expressed in both free verse and rhyme, poems in myriad forms invite readers into the state of attention required for both cooking and living a thoughtful life . . . An inventive and artfully composed volume." 

–Publishers Weekly