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Summary
Summary
Ruthie's grandma is in the hospital, not surprisingly complaining about the food. All she wants is a nice bowl of borscht. Ruthie comes to the rescue, even though she hasn't the faintest idea of how to make it. With the help of a few well-meaning neighbors (including the Tsarina of Borscht and the Empress of Borscht and some ingenuity of her own), a soul-reviving brew is concocted...
Author Notes
Leda Schubert lives in Plainfield, Vermont, and is a faculty member at Vermont College. She has served on many ALA committees, including the Caldecott and Arbuthnot.
Bonnie Christensen is the author-illustrator of WOODIE GUTHRIE: POET OF THE PEOPLE, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and a New York Times Notable Book. Her illustrations also appear in the London Folio Society's edition of THE GRAPES OF WRATH and over ten children's books, including POMPEII, LOST AND FOUND by Mary Pope Osborne. Most recently, she illustrated IDA B. WELLS: LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD, with text by Walter Dean Myers (Oct. 2008). Bonnie's fine art prints have been exhibited internationally. She lives in Wilson, North Carolina.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Grandma, hospitalized for pneumonia, complains to Ruthie about the dreadful food and asks for homemade borscht. With no recipe to guide her, the girl gets conflicting advice from neighbors who claim to be Empress, First Lady, and Tsarina of Borscht. Ruthie cobbles ingredients together and adds her own touch-some dill-just because it smells good. Queen of Borscht Grandma declares the soup delicious, and Ruthie names herself Princess of Borscht. All seems happily settled-until Grandma requests noodle pudding for the next day. Most young readers will likely agree with Ruthie's Dad that beet soup is "yucky," but they will admire Ruthie's pluck in taking on the challenge of cooking it. The warm relationship between Ruthie and her grandmother is appealing, and the arguing neighbors lend humor to the story. The sketchy illustrations have a folksy charm, and the faces are expressive, conveying subtleties such as worry, annoyance, and pride. Speech patterns, names, and the menu itself imply that the characters are Jewish, although this is never stated in the text; in any case, the tale of competing cooks and grandmother/grandchild love is universal.-Heidi Estrin, Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ruthie's beloved Grandma may be hospitalized with pneumonia, but she's still a firecracker: "[A] person could starve to death here," she tells Ruthie. What Grandma wants-and by 5 p.m., no less-is homemade borscht, preferably from her own secret recipe. Ruthie's attempt to recreate the borscht with the help of the highly opinionated women who live in Grandma's building is really several stories at once: Ruthie's discovery of her inner chef (she becomes the borscht "Princess" to Grandma's "Queen"); her initiation into the guild of elite home cooks; and an affirmation of membership in a loving-if also interfering and contentious-community. Christensen's (Fabulous: A Portrait of Andy Warhol) exuberant, sketch-style drawings have a knowing humor and immediacy that pull readers into the story; her Rosie is by turns bemused and befuddled, but her gentle determination shines through. Likewise, Schubert (Feeding the Sheep) hits just the right notes of sweet, sour, and salty in portraying a milieu in which operatic emotions, bickering, and sharp remarks ("Pooh. What do they know?" says Grandma of her peers) are really a form of unconditional affection. Ages 4-7. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Though the book opens with Ruthie and her father at the hospital visiting Ruthie's grandmother, laid up with pneumonia, this isn't a coping-with-death book. Bubbe's not failing, she's a finagler. Unsatisfied by hospital food ("a person could starve to death here"), she sends Ruthie to her apartment to prepare a pot of borscht. Ruthie has never made borscht before, so luckily (or is it?) Grandma's yenta neighbors -- the self-anointed Empress, First Lady, and Tsarina of Borscht -- come around to offer their culinary expertise. The conflicting advice -- onions? no onions! sugar? no, honey! lemons?! -- leaves Ruthie's head spinning until her own instincts kick in. Back at the hospital, after presenting her concoction to the expert ("for borscht, I am the Queen"), Ruthie is promptly rewarded with her own honorific of princess, not to mention another assignment: "You know, tomorrow I might like a noodle pudding." Schubert's characters, and the interactions among them, feel entirely authentic; the family dynamic is apparent (Ruthie's father: "Soup from beets?...Yuck"), while Grandma's three cronies just can't help themselves when it comes to one-upmanship. Christensen's illustrations, with their sketchlike dark lines and subdued hues enhanced by pinky-red beet-colored accents, reflect the comfortable disarray of Ruthie's family life. "Ruthie's Borscht (with help from Grandma)" recipe is included on the jacket. elissa gershowitz (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
(Picture book. 3-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
When Ruthie's grandmother is hospitalized, Grandma announces that the only cure is homemade borscht. Ruthie takes this literally, rushing to make borscht for the first time. She receives too much help from the neighboring ladies each possessing her own idea of the secret ingredient but it's Ruthie's contribution that the grandmother ultimately notices. The illustrations (pen, ink, and watercolor, similar in style to Patricia Polacco) ably depict the emotions Ruthie experiences throughout the story. This warmhearted tale may have a limited audience, seeing as how borscht isn't the most popular of children's cuisine, but the love between a child and his or her grandparents is universal. This book makes a nice addition to the list of titles for children dealing with a loved one in the hospital and is reminiscent of Esther Hershenhorn's Chicken Soup by Heart (2002). A borscht recipe is, of course, included.--Sawyer, Linda Copyright 2010 Booklist
