Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland was a book I noticed in our sale section. I was looking for books to donate to my local library as an “In Memory” gift for a coworker from our sister store. She liked children’s books and had done a few reviews for cookbooks as well, therefore, I thought this was a perfect combination.
I had known two things about Julia Child’s before this book: One she loved to cook (more butter the better) and she had been a spy in World War Two. This book starts with telling you a bit about her beginning (her family, when she grew up, how she meets her husband and even her larger than life-sized feet) going well into her adulthood. It also goes through the process of the making of her famous cookbook.
This book surely captures the feelings of Child and presents this perhaps not-so-well-known person to children. The only reason this book is a four is it is hard to read. This is due to the typesetting (it is light, and the font is not always pleasant to read). And the text is literally all over the page. It does not sit politely at the bottom like most stories, but just surrounds the action on the page.
The book is, to say the least, busy. Busy images, busy text and a busy subject. It gives a great deal of information about one heck of a lady and her family and friends.