Book Review: Mountain Chef by Annette Bay Pimentel

I recently received an advance copy of Mountain Chef: how one man lost his groceries, changed his plans, and helped cook up the National Park Service by Annette Bay Pimentel and illustrated by Rich Lo.

I give it 5 stars.

Mountain Chef is the true story of Tie Sing, a Chinese American chef who traveled with a group of about thirty people on a trip that inspired the creation of the National Park Service. Though it’s aimed at around 6–9 year-old kids, I could easily see reading this to children even a couple years younger as well.

I think that nonfiction books have a hard line to walk. You want to deliver enough accurate information that it’s worth reading but still entertain. Especially for younger kids, it can be hard not to be too dry. Mountain Chef had some adventure but wasn’t over the top. There was historically accurate information in the story, and at the end of the book was a section with additional facts, photographs, and a list of sources. I like the balance of story and information.

The main character in the story was Tie Sing, a Chinese American, and the book did a nice job of noting the prejudice he faced because of his heritage without it coming across as the focus of the story or as an emotionally manipulative ploy. The historical information noted at the end of the book provides nice prompting for further discussions of heritage and prejudice, which may be especially useful in a classroom setting.

The illustrations are truly lovely. They have a depth and detail that encourages the reader to linger, which helps prevent racing through the content as well. Look at Tie Sing unloading cargo from the donkeys. The visual layers are meditative and give a sense of the natural world around them.

I highly recommend this book for parents to read with their children and for libraries to have in their collection.