Module 13, Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland

Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child, by Jessie Hartland is a biographical graphic picture book.

Summary

This biography of Julia Child, done in a comics style graphic picture book, chronicles the life of Child from her childhood to her death in 2004.  Particular emphasis is given in the book to her writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Julia Child was born in 1912 to a wealthy family in Pasadena, California.  The book gives many fun facts about her childhood, including that her favorite after school snack was a jelly doughnut.  The college she attended is mentioned with a couple facts, and then the author tells us of the many jobs she had after college, not quite finding her niche.  She meets her husband, Paul Child while working for a government agency called, The Office of Strategic Services.  They have many things in common, including their love of adventuresome dining.  Eventually they marry.

Julia begins her life in France when Paul is transferred there with his job.  Julia again fumbles around, looking for an interesting position, but ends up at the famed Cordon Bleu Cooking School.  She excels there and makes a friend, Simone Beck, with whom she eventually writes her first cookbook.

There is quite a bit of detail included in the book about the 10 years that went into writing the cookbook.  Hartland takes great lengths to discuss the time the two spent on the book, the moves Julia made which influenced her cooking and exasperated the difficulties of writing the book, and the number of rejections from publishers the two received. 

After the cookbook was published, Julia Child hosted a popular cooking show in which she featured recipes from her cookbook.  She eventually moved back to France and wrote several other successful books.  Julia Child died in 2004 at the age of 91.  Bon Appetit! Includes two recipes, a reference note about where to learn more information about Julia Child, and a Bibliography.

Impression

“The writing is clear and precise, the design uncluttered and easy to read,” (p. 33) Hartland says of Julia Child’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said for 

Hartland’s book about Julia Child. 

While the illustrations done in comic book style art are whimsical and entertaining, the text that accompanies the artwork is difficult to decipher and follow.  The text is crammed between the artwork, in typical graphic comic style, but there are no clear text boxes to help define the space.  On some pages, it is very difficult to determine where to read next.  And since this is a book about her life, the order is important.  Some of the pages had what could be described as text boxes, but the background color of the boxes was so dark, it made it difficult to read the hand printing font style.  One two page spread was devoted to 37 text boxes with small writing and pictures of a galantine recipe.  Perhaps it was not really meant to be read, since it was difficult to follow.

There are several phrases in French.  Although this adds to the authenticity, if you did not figure out until halfway through the book that the French was translated, like I did, you might miss some things.  There are words everywhere on the page, sometimes you get lost.

HOWEVER, despite my criticisms, this book is definitely worth the work that it takes to read it!  The book is presented in a fun, lighthearted tone, which is reminiscent of Julia Child herself.  There is so much information given; important information about the making of the cookbook, and little interesting fun facts.  It is a great way to present a biography because the pictures complement and add to the text.  For instance, there is an illustration that shows the back of Julia’s head and the camera and crew holding up “idiot cards”.  They say things like, “There’s a pot holder on fire!” and “you have spinach in your teeth!”  I am guessing this really happened!

The author does not shy away from some of Julia Child’s shortcomings, yet it is clear that she admires the famous chef.  This book inspires you to look up some old footage of Julia Child from her cooking shows.  You can’t help but want to see her in action.

Library Uses

Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child has many library uses.  First, because it is a biography of a woman, who is not a nurse, athlete, or singer, it gives girls a positive iconic hero, in a field that rarely gets this kind of notoriety in books.  Due to the small cramped text, I don’t think it would work well in a read aloud.  However, it would work nicely as a small group read.  One activity might be to have groups of students read biographies and then create a project together representing the book.  This book would lend itself to having students bring in their favorite recipes to share or to create a group cookbook. 

Also, students could read the book and then watch youtube videos of Julia Child.  They could then record their own cooking show in Julia Child style.

The book is inspirational in that Julia and her partner are rejected many times in their quest to have their cookbook published.  It shows that if you don’t give up, your dreams can come true.  Librarians may be able to suggest this book to some students who may need this message.

Professional Reviews

A homey biography introduces children to Julia Child.

Julia Child’s imposing but unglamorous figure and rumbly voiced television presence charmed cooks and eaters alike, even as her cookbooks changed kitchen dynamics in many American households. Hartland uses a naive cartoon storytelling style—several scenes on a page, accompanied by an energetic handwritten, partly cursive text—to recount her journey to success as a renowned cook. Lively tableaux deliver an affectionate tribute to this strong-minded woman. Scenes from Julia’s tomboy childhood include mention of Julia’s large feet and the three foods her mother would make on cook’s night off: biscuits, codfish balls and Welsh rabbit. The book moves onto her brief career with the OSS, her marriage to Paul Child (and their mutual interest in food) and their move to Paris. From Julia’s education at Le Cordon Bleu and her subsequent success in producing cookbooks, it’s clear that Julia succeeded through her attention to detail and her luck in matching passion for food with her ability to cook it expertly. The 37 steps in Julia’s preparation of a galantine for her sister “Dort the Wort” are amusingly detailed, and though readers are not told whether Dorothy was impressed, the anecdote is telling.

While these stories may be familiar to adult readers, they are here perfectly pitched to introduce the determined woman who became synonymous with French cooking in America. (bibliography)  (Picture book/biography. 7-11)

--Kirkus, 2012

Chef and TV personality Julia Child likely would have delighted in and hooted over this wide-ranging picture-book biography. Hartland’s (How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum) trademark naïve-styled cartoons fill each panel and page with activity, their liveliness nodding to Child’s own energy. A color palette limited to sage and sea greens, gray-blues, reds, and browns keeps the myriad vignettes from overwhelming. Humorous touches—such as her singed eyebrows while making crêpes suzette—set an effervescent tone. One doesn’t expect biographies of this length to be exhaustive, but Hartland’s is remarkably so, covering Child’s early years in Pasadena, her stint with a spy agency in WWII, her world travels, and cooking adventures. The narrative is done in handwritten typeface, an informal combination of cursive and printing that winds around the illustrations and down the pages and includes numerous French phrases with translations. One spread even outlines step-by-step directions (in 37 numbered panels) for making chicken galantine. Readers young and old will devour this fête pour les yeux, which concludes with a short epilogue, bibliography, and, of course, a crêpe recipe. All ages. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (May)

--Publishers Weekly, 2012

References

BON APPETIT by Jessie Hartland , Jessie Hartland | Kirkus. (2012, April 1). Retrieved May 4, 2015, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jessie-hartland/bon-appetit-delicious-life-julia-child/

Children's Book Review: Bon Appetit!: The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland. Random/Schwartz & Wade. (2012, March 19). Retrieved May 4, 2015, from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-375-86944-0

Hartland, J. (2012). Bon appetit!: The delicious life of Julia Child. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.