Umami

K-Gr 1–Umami’s penguin village ate only cold fish at every meal including birthday celebrations. This was simply one fish too many for Umami who declared, “If there is more exciting food in this world, I will find it!” She sails away on her search and after many days arrives at a land that smells of tasty foods. She wanted to try them all: challengingly bitter foods, sweet foods, savory foods, spicy foods, and foods that makee her tongue tingle. Inspired, Umami brings them all back to share with her village. She prepares a huge feast, but wonders if her neighbors could accept flavors so adventurous and different. The villagers ate every bite. Umami has one more idea. The easy-to-reader text finds the perfect balance between humor, plot and Umami’s expanding palette. The land of tasty foods is populated with a delightful array of animals all either eating, cooking or serving food. Grant gives all his character’s wonderful expressions that are easy to understand and may cause outright laughter, such as the scene of the penguins experiencing their first non-fish meal.