NetGalley ARC
Read-Aloud? No. Good for one-on-one reading (length).
Tags: food, food fermentation, pickles, kimchi, Queer central character

Sandor Katz, food fermenter and educator, is the subject of this engaging Readers to Eaters book about the "Tiny Wild" of microbiology. Great for foodie kids and caregivers, "Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild" also provides a good starting point for conversations with kids about AIDS and healthy eating.

The illustrations are fun and interesting, accompanying a lengthy text with inviting sounds like "zingy-tangy" and "kraut-chi-licious." Definitions of some terms are included for clarity and understanding.

Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild brings lots of information about food and making fermented foods. I learned a lot about using microbes in no-heat cooking. The illustrations were fun, and I appreciated the inclusion of Sandor going to a queer community. I loved all the different types of food that use fermentation across the world.

This is a brightly illustrated children's book that introduces kids to Wild Fermentation guru Sandor Katz. They find out about his history in NYC and his HIV diagnosis in 1991, when he moved to an off-grid regenerative compound in Tennessee with other LGBTQ folks, eventually taking up fermentation to deal with a surplus of cabbage and a love of the taste of fermented foods. The end gives kids a recipe to make their own spiced kraut (they pick the spices) and gives a little more info on fermentation. Kudos to the casual, positive inclusion of sometimes-taboo topics like friends doing drag after the work is done on the farm, the AIDS crisis and queer folks.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

This book is a great example of how the various parts of a book--art, words, and book design--come together to create an informative and enjoyable reading experience. For me, much of the content was new. While I knew about the benefits of eating fermented foods, I did not know about Sandor Katz or that different varieties of fermented foods he created. I also appreciate the clever writing, Here's an example: "Cross the cricket-crockety porch into a kitchen of curious people tasting fizzy, flunky, and sometimes furry flavors." There's a lot more in the book. As I read, new vocabulary was introduced so that the reader could easily integrate it with the text. The illustrations are colorful, varied, and informative. The back matter includes notes from the two co-authors, the illustrator, and Sandor Katz as well as photographs, and a listing of additional resources, Overall, this is a great example of an outstanding informative picture book.