cover image Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth

Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth

Mary McKenna Siddals, , illus. by Ashley Wolff. . Tricycle, $15.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-58246-316-2

“Environmental chefs,/ here's a recipe for you/ to fix from scratch/ to mix a batch/ of Compost Stew,” invites a girl with curly titian hair. Letters stand for different components of what goes into a compost pile, and Wolff's cut-paper collages depict a multicultural group of kids, as well as a dalmatian and a goose, working together to collect material (“Dirt clods, crumbled,/ Eggshells, crushed/ Fruit pulp left behind, all mushed”): “And when the cooking is complete,/ Mother Earth will/ have a treat,/ dark and crumbly,/ rich and sweet.” An exuberant primer for green-minded kids. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)