We All Scream for Ice Cream!

I was astonished to discover how many interesting and amazing facts Lee Wardlaw came up with in her history of ice cream. This carefully researched book is written with style and humor -- just like all her books. It's full of amusing stories and reads almost like a novel. Kids will love telling their friends what they've learned about this delicious subject. An excellent book for kids -- and their parents too.

Lee Wardlaw, the fun food expert who also wrote BUBBLEMANIA: THE CHEWY HISTORY OF BUBBLE GUM, has topped that smackin' good read with one about the number-1-greatest-dessert-on-earth...ice cream. You might ask me why I would read about ice cream when I could just eat ice cream, and I would say you have a pretty good question. But I have ten great answers. (By the way, I could think of 101 reasons why you should read this book, but Lee Wardlaw already wrote 101 WAYS TO BUG YOUR PARENTS, and I don't want to bug her!) TEN REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD READ ABOUT ICE CREAM WHEN YOU COULD BE EATING IT: 1. If there is ever an earthquake large enough to destroy all of the ice cream companies on earth, you will have this book and be able to start your own company and save the world. 2. This book has GREAT ideas about the best possible careers. Name one job better than inventing ice cream flavors. 3. The next time your moms tells you not to stir up your ice cream, you can tell her with authority that ice cream is better that way. The man with the million dollar taste buds says so. 4. When you go out with friends, you can win the game of naming the weirdest flavors of ice cream. How about tuna fish ice cream? 5. Feel like royalty. Ice cream was once so rare that only kings and queens could afford it. 6. When your teacher starts going on and on about the father of our country, you can point out that there was somebody much more important: Jacob Fussell, the father of the American ice cream industry. 7. Improve your self-esteem. Did you know that it was a kid who first got the idea for an ice cream Sundae? Talk about an important invention. 8. This book will give you reasons to LOVE math and science. Ice cream couldn't happen without them. Your grades are guaranteed to go up a whole mark after reading this book. We'll start with an easy one: If you have a gallon of cookies'n'cream ice cream and four hungry kids, how much fudge sauce will your mom have to buy? 9. There's a whole chapter of recipes! Make your own ice cream! No freezer? Make it in a plastic sandwich bag! 10. I saved the best for last. You don't have to read about ice cream instead of eating it. You can do both at the same time. Just don't get the book sticky. Your mom and dad will want to read it, too!

With this book, Lee Wardlaw has completed the great triumvirate of ice cream books. First there was Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla by Anne Cooper Funderburg, giving us the first really accurate, complete, and very readable history of ice cream published in the twentieth century. And then there was Frozen Desserts by Caroline Liddell and Robin Weir, the best and most complete recipe book on ice cream written in the twentieth century. All that was lacking in the Ice Screamer's library was a good, readable, accurate book for children, and now, after having patiently waited until the new millenium and thanks to Lee Wardlaw, noted children's author, we have that book. The library is complete, God is on his throne, all is right with the world, and the only emperor is the emperor of ice cream. So what makes this book so good? Where to start.....well, just take a look at the cover. You cannot resist picking up this book, and then, well, then you've had it. First, there is the readability. I started the book and didn't stop until it was finished. Like I usually do with a good bowl of homemade ice cream, I devoured it too fast. So I had to read it again...same thing, couldn't put it down. Immediately apparent in Lee's style in all her books, and it is evident here as well, is that she doesn't talk "down" to children. The language is direct and simple wihout being patronizing; the style "speaks" to the reader casually yet matter-of-factly, which of course means that adults flock to her books as eagerly as children do. Then there are the delightful illustrations by Sandra Forrest. My personal favorite is the soda jerk on page 76. And besides these illustrations, each chapter begins with a great black and white photo of a classic ice cream scene, many are historic and rare. The book is complete. Chapters on the history of ice cream, the story of certain ice cream treats, and recipes are of course to be expected and these are complete, concise and accurate. When fact tends to blur with fancy, Lee tells us so. When myth runs smack into history, Lee tells us so. But her facts are impeccable; accurate and concise. It is a very, very well researched book, yet so fun to read, every page turns with a smile or a chuckle. And then, like the surprise bit of crunch in butter brickle, there are the sidebars, adding tantalizing factoids and anecdotes just to make us salivate for more. Mmmmm....Good! But the real charm to me is in the "extra" chapters. I didn't expect to see a chapter on soda fountains and soda jerks, but here it is! I didn't expect to see a chapter on cones and cone manufacturers, but surprise!, here it is! The story behind some well known ice cream companies? Here it is! And just as a good topping makes a great sundae, take a look at the the chapter called The Man With the Million Dollar Taste Buds. I've met this wild and crazy guy, and if anyone could do justice to him, Lee Wardlaw has done so. To be per