102 by Mathew Cordell

This is the image under the dust jacket!

The endpapers in 102 are intriguing. They are filled with 102 beans but while you will recognise some as real beans such as borlotti bean, pinto bean, lima bean and fava bean. Others are quirky such as morning bean, owl bean, Frisby bean, Lobel bean, Poppy bean, Cornbread bean, Sendak bean, and Steig bean. There is even a coffee bean!

The number 102 is the title of this book but it is so much more. The boy's temperature rises to 102; at 1.02am he wakes up and follows the cricket into a different world; the ant has 102 babies; and George's destination is 102 Acorn Hollow and there is a surprise on the last page which refers to 102 again. AND you need to look closely at many pages to find more references to 102 in the illustrations on labels, on a rug pattern, on George's wall and so on.

Watch the way Matthew Cordell creates his illustrations for this book using a multicoloured, multiscented ballpoint pen. "He liked it so much, he went on to draw 102 with it, layering many lines of one colour over another. It took sixteen of these pens to draw all forty-eight pages of this book."

In this podcast Matthew talks in detail about 102 and the inspiration and creative process.

It's time again for more process talk about my new picture book, 102. One of the earliest points of origin for the story, that I can remember, happened way back in 2019. While working in my basement studio, I noticed one afternoon that a frog had gotten trapped in one of our window wells. Rather than save it myself (or, frankly, let it die in there). I waited for my then 1st grade son, Dean, to get home from school and we could figure it out together. He suggested we lower a bucket down and we'd pull it up and out. It took a bit of encouragement (I had to broom the frog into the bucket), but ultimately, we were able to save our new wee green friend that day, father and son! That little blip in our lives was all it took to spark the beginning of 102, which is, at its heart, an animal rescue story. In 102, a mouse is captured in the family kitchen, and young George hopes to keep it as a pet. Without spoiling too much, one outrageous thing happens after another where George shrinks down to the size of a mouse and begins a nighttime adventure, where he learns about the life of that mouse he's captured. This convinces him that it's only right that he release the mouse to get back to his own life and family. It took years for that beginning spark to unfold into the story that became 102, but sometimes that is how these things take shape. Matthew Cordell 

Publisher blurb: Sent home from school earlier in the day with a fever, George awakens in the middle of the night to discover a cricket beckoning him on an adventure and soon finds himself shrunken down in size. He follows the insect guide through a crack in his bedroom wall, through the moonlit yard, and into the home of a family of mice at the base of an oak tree. There, in a tiny, cozy kitchen, George discovers the meaning of his quest: he must help the Mama mouse complete her special 102-bean soup for her sick young son.

Here are some review comments:

"Utterly entrancing." —Kirkus, starred review

"Tender and imaginative." —SLJ, starred review

"Graceful, cozy." —Booklist, starred review

"A weird and wonderful story." —Horn Book, starred review

"Pulses with warmth and inventiveness."—PW, starred review

A magical adventure from a master book creator. Waking Brain Cells

The Kirkus Star reviewed likened 102 to The Borrowers. I also thought of A Cricket in Time Square.

I discovered Matthew Cordell from his Cornbread and Poppy series many years ago. I adore these little beginner chapter books. 

Cornbread and Poppy

Sadly, not many of his picture books have made it to Australia. I am keen to read these two picture books below. I have also added images of the case reveal - we don't do many picture books here in Australia with dust jackets. A different image under the dust jacket adds something a little bit magical to a picture book. US illustrator Matthew Cordell often adds this extra surprise:

Matthew Cordell is the author and illustrator of many celebrated picture books for children, including the Caldecott Medal winner Wolf in the Snow, Evergreen, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, Hello Neighbor!: The Kind and Caring World of Mr. Rogers, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, and the Cornbread and Poppy series, which Booklist in a starred review has called “a rewarding choice for young readers.” Matthew lives outside of Chicago with his wife, author Julie Halpern, and their two children.

I have also previously talked about these:

Leeva at last

Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie

Soup's On Around the World by Denyse Waissbluth illustrated by Chelsea O'Byrne

Delicious and nutritious. Kirkus

Bookseller blurb: Through vibrant illustrations and heartwarming text, Soup's On Around the World invites readers on a flavorful journey of soups across the globe, each with its own unique history and traditions! Every soup tells its own story, revealing fascinating stories such as: The popular Chinese dish, Wonton Soup, is over 1000 years old. In Finland, a unique Christmas dried fruit soup is served as a sweet dessert, topped with whipped cream. Bitter-leaf Soup, a traditional dish from West Africa, was first used to treat illnesses. French Onion Soup was possibly invented by a king!

The cover of this book caught my eye and then to my delight my friend told me there is another book in this series (Taste the World) about tea. Both of these books would be fabulous additions to your school library and especially perfect if you have a multicultural school population or if you school celebrates days such as Harmony Day. And for families here in Australia, it is Winter so that is the perfect time to snuggle up and read a book about soup.

Bookseller blurb: Let's go on an adventure to discover new cultures and friends through tea! In this fun and lyrical picture book for ages 4-8, kids will learn how tea is enjoyed in Thailand, Japan, Russia, Egypt, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Uruguay, South Sudan, India, and more countries! Did you know that po cha, the traditional tea in Tibet, is thick and salty like soup? Or that in Iran, tea is served with a rock? (A rock candy, that is!) Or that afternoon tea was dreamed up in England by a duchess who complained of being hungry between lunch and dinner? With vivid poetry, vibrant illustrations, and unique facts about different tea cultures, Teatime Around the World tells the delightful story of a beloved beverage.

Read the Kirkus review. In this video the author talks about creating her book Teatime around the World. Denyse Waissbluth and Chelsea O’Byrne both live in Vancouver, Canada.

Mr Lepron's Mystery Soup by Giovanna Zoboli illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio translated by Denis Muir

As a soup lover, I hope that this story will also have a gastronomic impact: that is, if children liked this literary soup, it is not excluded that they could start eating 

real soups without raising a bat of protest. 

It will be enough to tell them that to cook them you have followed the secret recipe of the infamous Lepron Soup, and said soups will evaporate from the plates 

in the blink of an eye. Giovanna Zoboli

Click here to read more about the creative processes and original inspiration for Mr Lepron's Mystery Soup at Topipittori and see the exhibition at the Bologna book fair.

Mr Lepron is an older and handsome hare. He loves his family, his forest home through all the seasonal changes and his huge family. Reminiscent of Peter Rabbit, Mr Lepron loves vegetables, the vegetables in the nearby famer's fields - carrots, onions, celery, lettuce, beans, pumpkins, radishes and a variety of herbs. All of these are perfect ingredients for soup. These are seasonal vegetables and so each autumn everyone helps to gather the abundance from the fields. Mr Lepron has a wonderful cooking pot "which he bought by mail order from a world-famous shop." 

It is important to note - "the pot doesn't like to be watched while the soup is cooking, just like Mr Lepron doesn't like to be watched while he's hard at work in his kitchen."

While the soup simmers Mr Lepron dreams of magical things only waking up when the soup is ready. This soup is so delicious. What is the secret? No one seems to be able to create it in quite the same way even though they use all of the same ingredients. Over time word spreads about this soup. Everyone wants some. 

"Then suddenly, one day, to everyone's surprise, Mr Lepron opened a factory: a big brick building that worked around the clock cooking up soup."

Can you think of a problem? Will the soup still be delicious? Why or why not? What might happen to Mr Lepron?

Mr Lepron loves making vegetable soup, and all the other creatures love his soup too, It isn’t too long before he decides to monetise his passion and starts making soup at industrial scale. Well that’s fine, he can employ the other creatures which is great – we all need a job. But before long Mr Lepron has been sucked into the very machinery of capitalism. The money-making business of soup takes over his life, his dreams and his nightmares. His coat is no longer so shiny and his eyes lose their brightness. What should Mr Lepron do? Well, this is a fable so I can tell you he doesn’t do quite what the capitalist machine would have him do. Just Imagine

There are several things that drew me to this book. When I was researching Italian children's book illustrators prior to attending the 2024 IBBY Congress in Trieste I saw the name Mariachiara Di Giorgio. I previously read and loved another book by this illustrator - The Midnight Fair. You may also know the famous wordless book Professional Crocodile. 

Next, I saw this book was a 2024 IBBY Honour book for illustration. It has the Italian title: La zuppa Lepron. At the congress there were lots of books on display including all the 2024 honour books and so I was able to see Mr Lepron's Mystery Soup but, because it was in Italian, I could only guess at the story. Opening the book, though, I spied the most delightful endpapers and so when I later saw this book had been translated into English I just knew I had to find it and even buy it. 

See more illustrations from this book here.

Walker Books Australia have the English version of this book [9781529520859] but very strangely I have found it hard to source. Luckily one of our city bookstores did have a copy and because the author's name starts with 'z' it was hidden on a low shelf. Even though the shop had stocked it back in July 2024 it had not been sold. One more thing that made me determined to read Mr Lepron's Soup - I am collecting picture books for older readers (Upper Primary/Elementary and Junior High School) in readiness for a library conference later this year. The age range listed for this book is ages 3-8 but that, in my opinion, totally misses the themes of this book about commercialisation, consumerism, enterprise, exploitation and the dangers of spreading rumours. You could also think about the way social media can inflate or ruin a reputation and there is the issue of the fleeting nature of fame. 

Image Source: Bologna 2022

Zoboli’s lengthy, descriptive text, translated from Italian, and Di Giorgio’s watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil art, together infuse Mr. Lepron with a deep humanity and construct a compelling, dreamy world that harkens back to the past in its tone and look but, with its nods to the all-consuming nature of capitalism, feels grounded in current realities, much like their previous collaboration, Professional Crocodile (2017). A clever, compassionate, and elegantly wrought reminder to do what makes you happy.  Kirkus Star review

Publisher blurb: Mr Lepron lives in the forest and has a toasty warm home and many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Oh, and he adores vegetables and making soup. Mr Lepron also enjoys napping and he always dreams of being a famous chef, cooking his magnificent soup. After his vivid, fantastical dreams, Mr Lepron's soup tastes out-of-this-world irresistible. So irresistible, that Mr Lepron becomes famous. So irresistible, that Mr Lepron opens a soup factory that starts working around the clock. But as his dreams turn to nightmares about the factory, Mr Lepron's soup loses its magical flavour, and he realizes that what matters most in the world is not fame and riches, but time spent with his beloved children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, playing, laughing, napping and, sometimes, cooking his soup ... with love.

Beginning with the title you could talk to your group about the name of the hare Mr Lepron. In French hare if Lievre; in Italian it is Lepre; in Latin it is Lepus; and the Spanish is Liebre. One reviewer also noted the eyes of the hares throughout the book look startled as though they are on alert for predators. And if you look closely at the cover it does resemble a can of soup. 

When you open this book take a moment to think about the official Mr Lepron portrait opposite the title page. Older students could compare this with the portraits of actual people (known and unknown). 

Image source: Topipittori

Think about the opening words of this book: "Mr Lepron is a very handsome hare with a bright, shiny coat and lovely, long ears." Do looks equate with success? Why has the illustrator used this pose? 

... this is what happens until Lepron decides to follow his fantasy, that is, to want the whole world to taste the soup. Thus he opened an industrial plant, where, however, the initial success was quickly followed by the awareness that the soup made in this way could not maintain the same flavor, since the vegetables would have to be available all year round and the preparation would have to be mechanized. ... A story that makes us reflect on the simple pleasures of sharing, of waiting for the times of nature and of the reward and gratification we derive from it. ... Lepron's dream had never been to earn, but to make his autumn soup known in the world. Instead, the soup produced in his factory, canned and designed to have a long shelf life, had nothing to do with the delicious taste of the original soup and this had made him sad.

Another reviewer commented: Lepron's dream of greatness, which does not foresee the times of nature and the importance of human work, instead turns into an ugly reality, so much so that even his dreams change and become disturbing. Fortunately, he decides to follow his heart, close the factory and make peace with himself.

This Reviewer links the illustrations in this book especially the pantry and kitchen scenes with the work of Beatrix Potter and Jill Barklem.

Giovanna Zoboli is the author of over 30 picture books, including Professional Crocodile, illustrated by Mariachiara Di Giorgio and The Big Book of Slumber, illustrated by Simona Mulazzani. Giovanna is also the co-founder of an Italian children's publishing company where she is currently editor and art director.

Mariachiara Di Giorgio is an illustrator, storyboard artist and concept designer from Rome, Italy. She illustrated Midnight Fair, a wordless picture book with a storyline by Gideon Sterer, which won the 2022 Yoto Kate Greenaway Shadowers' Choice award. Her first picture book, Professional Crocodile, was also wordless, with a storyline by Giovanna Zoboli.

Companion books to read after Mr Lepron's Mystery Soup:

Read more here.

Finally, not to trivialize the themes of Mr Lepron's Mystery Soup but my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a Pinterest collection of picture books about soup. Stealing the vegetables from the farmer's fields also made me think of this book for young readers - The Vegetable Thieves. 

Aesop trickster tale The Fox and the Stork

Recently my friend the Teacher-Librarian from Kinderbookswitheverything gifted (loaned) an Aesop fable or a folktale to each teacher in her school. I always cheer when teachers ask to read Aesop's fables with their class. There are so many and they are such wonderful stories. I plan to borrow various Aesop stories and talk about them here over the coming months. They often contain the most scrumptious illustrations too.

The Fox and the Stork is a trickster tale. The Fox thinks he has tricked the hungry Stork when she cannot eat the soup he has prepared. Her long beak makes soup in a shallow dish an impossible meal. But later it is the Stork who tricks that silly Fox when she offers him a dinner in a narrow jar - perfect for her beak but impossible for the fox. 

Here are some editions of this story. I love the illustrations in the retelling by Karl Ruhmann illustrated by Alessandra Roberti (North South Books 2003). Of course you will also find this story included in most Aesop anthologies.

Karl Ruhmann is the author of another book I loved to read in my former library when we were exploring books about penguins - Filbert flies.

Quill Soup by Alan Durant illustrated by Dale Blankenaar

A stranger arrives in the village. His name is Noko and he his a porcupine. Noko is tired and hungry. The villagers are suspicious of strangers. When Noko asks for something to eat every householder refuses him.  He asks the warthog, the rabbit, the monkey, aardvark, pangolin and the meerkat. 

"None of them, they said, had any food."

"He could see from the villagers' sleek coats and rounded bellies that they were lying."

Noko is smart. He asks for a pot and, as the villagers watch, he pulls three quills from his back and puts them in the pot. He tells the villagers that the king loves his quill soup. Noko tastes his soup and comments that it would taste even better with a few carrots. And so the trick begins. A variety of tasty ingredients are added to the soup and when it is ready every one enjoys a delicious bowl.

This is a richly handsome hardback book that retells the traditional story that many of us know as ‘Stone Soup’. But this time the story is in its African form. It’s an ancient story, but apt for our present time, and for our children. Should we share? With strangers? Awfully Big Reviews

In this video Alan Durant reads his book. Here are a set of activities to use with this book. Dale Blankenaar is an artist from South Africa. You can see some of his work here. Quill Soup won a prize in the Northern Lights Book Awards (Food category) in 2020. Trickers Tales are an interesting genre to include in a library program along with Tall Tales. I recommend Quill Soup as a worthwhile addition for your Primary school library

Companion reads: