The Popcorn Book

by Tomie dePaola

Tony likes to cook. Tiny likes to read. But both twins like to eat . . . POPCORN! So while Tony cooks it, Tiny reads about what popcorn is, how it's stored, how it's cooked, how different Native American people made it, how much popcorn Americans eat, popcorn stories and legends, and popcorn recipes. Tomie de Paola, who eats a lot of popcorn, shares what he knows about it with humor and imagination.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Food, Nonfiction, Science, Cooking, History

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.

He had a five-decade writing and illustrating career during which he published more than 270 books, including 26 Fairmount Avenue, Strega Nona, and Meet the Barkers.

Tomie dePaola and his work have been recognized with the Caldecott Honor Award, the Newbery Honor Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.

Reviews

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great example of why we love Tomie de Paola. A book about a seemingly boring topic, popcorn, that gives an educational experience in a multitude of ways. Besides learning all about popcorn, what it's made of, and how to cook it, we also learn the history and traditions of many cultures around the world pertaining to popcorn. Some of the legends from particular cultures had fun pictures to go along with the stories that kept my kids involved and engaged, especially my 5 yr old. A wonderful way to learn how much popcorn is grown in the U.S. and the different types as well. It probably falls between a level 2 and a level 3 reader for beginners. Overall an awesome learning tool parents will appreciate and a must have for any children's library.

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kids insisted I rate it 5 stars. If I had my druthers it would be three stars. It was good with good info. I’ve learned much of it throughout my life.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does anyone else like to do a theme with what they are snacking on and what they are reading? No? That's just me? Well I was in the mood for some popcorn and threw some in the microwave while looking for a popcorn themed book to read. The second I saw this book I had one of those. Oh my god I remember when Mrs. 1st grade teacher read us this book. She read it while we all greedily munched on popcorn.

The Popcorn Book is part story part fact giving book. In it two boys are making popcorn while one reads facts about popcorn to the other (I assume they were brothers). Legends and stories are told alongside of facts.

Ok this book is heavy on the feelings of nostalgia for me. It is an older book as it was first published in 1978. So the book is a year older than me! I'm not sure how accurate the facts still are but they are fascinating. One of the things I loved though was when the one boy said he would go look it up and there he was reading the encyclopedia. Kids there was a time when there was no internet let alone google to look up facts. Often you had to go to the library or rely on an ancient set of encyclopedias that were bought who knows how many years prior. I love the combination of the story of the two boys making popcorn with the interesting facts about popcorn.

The illustrations are great and I think they are in a style that children today will still love. Though the colors definitely reek of the 70s.

Rating this one is kind of hard for me. When it comes to nostalgia it is a 5 out of 5. But that is the thing the majority of pleasure I get is from the memory I have of my teacher reading us the book. The facts are wonderful as are the legends but again I don't know how well the facts hold up 40 years later. If were coming in fresh to this book having never heard or seen it before I think it would stand at 2 out of 5. So for nostalgia alone I'll bump it up another star.

3 out of 5 stars.

[Kamillah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Popcorn Book probably represents my first forray into food-themed literature! It recently made me smile to revisit one of my favorite books from childhood. Writing an engaging nonfiction book for young children requires a deft hand and Tomie dePaola succeeds with the The Popcorn Book.

The illustrations are inviting and cute and the prose is simple enough for young children to grasp, yet still engaging and informative. I also love how the book subtly encourages knowledge and curiosity. In the book, two brothers (Tony and Tiny) decide to make popcorn, but they wonder why their mom stores the popcorn in the fridge. While one brother takes to the stove, the other brother picks up a book to find out more about popcorn. Along with Tiny and Tony, we learn about the history of popcorn, it's popularity around the world and how it became an American staple. For an older book, I appreciate how dePaola incorporates traditions and legends about popcorn from around the world--he shares intriguing popcorn facts from diverse cultures without stereotyping or exoticizing them.

As a bonus, the book includes two popcorn recipes at the end of the book, which is great since it's quite impossible to read this book without being inspired to make popcorn the old-fashioned way.

This is an endearing and fun book for kids ages three and up and perhaps even better for adults, since we can make popcorn without parental supervision!

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

The next time your inquisitive child is asking you a bunch of random questions about popcorn, hand them this book. Anything you'd ever want to know (and don't want to know, haha) are within these pages.

Ages: 4 - 8

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[Heidi-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Not bad. Not fabulous even thought the information was interesting. I do wonder just how much of that was truth, since there was no author's note to state what was myth, truth, folklore, etc. But I certainly want to eat some popcorn now!

[Maren Prestegaard · Rating 3 out of 5]

"that's just learning about stuff." Little M calls this a one and done.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

January 3
actually reissued in 2018

[Bertha Montaño · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tomie dePaola’s children’s book has very fun to read. I love how one of the main characters of the book gets curious about something and decides to go out and find the information himself. The book doesn’t mention the characters names. They are illustrated on the shirts that the characters are wearing. In the book, Tiny is illustrated reading information from a book. He tells reads to his brother Tony all the information he is learning. It was interesting to learn about different fun facts about popcorn, the history of popcorn, how it is made, details about cultures from around the world using popcorn, and how long popcorn has been around for. It was also enjoyable reading Tony’s instructions and tips on how to make popcorn throughout the book. The illustrations were amazing. It was nice to be able to see images of what Tiny was reading and images of Tony making the popcorn. I would use this book as a teaching tool to introduce doing research. The book encourages kids to read. It teaches them that they can learn about a lot of cool stuff when they read. It also teaches them to appreciate books, they realize that history and important information is all documented in books. This book would inspire kids to do their own research when they get curious about something. Having students choose a topic and do research would be really fun after reading the book. They would be more excited and open to learning about something that interests them. Students can also get ideas from the book to know what kind of things to explore in their topic. Overall, the book was very fun and creative.

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and silly; I ran across this randomly and stopped to read it because I love popcorn and was curious about the questions posed on the back cover...which mostly weren't answered to any real depth, like "who eats popcorn soup?"

Plenty of the information in here is outdated and out of touch - while Native Americans (called Indians) are credited as the people who were first known to cultivate and eat popcorn, there are a few jokes at their expense. I wouldn't really recommend this for any modern-day kids, but it was kind of fun to read some quick "historical" information about popcorn - where it comes from, what different types of corn there are, how to cook it, etc.

I was surprised by the recommendation that you keep popcorn in the fridge to preserve its moisture. I've never in my life heard of that - it's a pantry staple, not something you'd dedicate fridge space to. But the logic is that it's the moisture inside the kernels that causes them to pop - as they heat up and it converts to steam - so if they dry out too much, you'll have too many unpopped kernels. The other recommendation is adding a couple tablespoons of water to the kernels before popping, which I guess it wouldn't hurt to try at some point.

Not a terribly informative book, really, and I feel like this would actually be super boring to read aloud to an actual child, but hey. Who doesn't love popcorn.

[Monica Rivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows Tony and Tiny. They want popcorn, and their mom says she keeps it in the fridge. They both wonder why she keeps it there. Tony makes popcorn and explains what he's doing while making it. Tiny looks up popcorn in an encyclopedia. He tells the history, myths, and stories of popcorn.
This book is part story part information. It was originally published in 1978. Since it was written so long ago the facts not might hold up. The myths and legends are still interesting, and could inspire kids to look up more information. The illustrations are in Tomie dePaola’s signature style and are colorful and fun to look at. The facts are all written in text bubbles, since Tiny is reading them aloud to Tony. The dual story-information style is a perfect introduction to non-fiction books.

[Emily Bruns · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could be used for independent reading at the older primary level or the younger intermediate level.

Tony and Tiny love popcorn so they decide to make some at home. While they make it, they read about the history of popcorn.

This book contains some facts that are potentially out of date now that the book is over 40 years old. While this book does contain some interesting history about different indigenous groups, the pictures are not very historically accurate. Despite these flaws, this book could be a good book for some easy, fun reading at the primary and intermediate levels.

[Kaitlyn Kluesner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book talked about how popcorn is made, and where it is most popular in the world. The most popular place is right here in the Midwest, and I thought that was pretty cool. This would be a great book to have in a classroom because many students love popcorn so they will be interested in learning about it.

[Katlyn Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for learning about the history of popcorn and how popular it is in todays time. I found this book to be great for research reasons along for just simple reading amusement. DePaola gives the rich history of popcorn throughout the centuries while giving a cute story to make it fun an interesting.

[Madison Whitaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book could be a good book to do an activity with students because you could make popcorn with it. This book is all about popcorn and the history of it. It is super cute and engaging with different writing techniques.

[Nancy Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Date I completed reading the book: 11-11-20

My star rating (1 to 5): ***

The date: 11-25-20

Genre: Nonfiction

Grade range: K-3

Book review: The book shares stories about popcorn and gives recipes on how to make popcorn.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun way to share the history and other facts about popcorn with kids, framed by the story of a young child looking the information up and then making his own batch of popcorn. Includes instructions for popcorn making.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some history about popcorn, with a cute movie tie in. Storytime 01/25/18

[Kay Mcaloney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second grade advanced reading group enjoyed reading and talking about the different kinds of popcorn and it’s long history. Good discussion book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who Doesn't Like Popcorn? This informational book from a while back is popping fun (and informational) for the whole family.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I normally love Tomie de Paola but this was a tad blah. Still fun and educational.

[Mrs. Ruigrok · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute story about popcorn...how it was discovered, how it was made etc.

[Bari · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can never go wrong with a book by Tomie dePaola

[Hayra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encanta este pequeño libro, y me gusta que es interactivo pero a la vez chistoso

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

J 641.6
Revised edition is way less racist than the original, so that's good.

[Susan Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love sharing this book with 1st graders every November! Trying to start a movement to include bowl of popcorn on the Thanksgiving dinner table :)
(Library)

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informational and fun.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great children’s book about the history and usage of popcorn!!

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[♥♣Mary♦♠ If She So Pleases · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting one time read. Btw, Tiny appears to be reading from the letter P Encyclopedia book so this may all be true.