Tag: grandpa cacao

I love chocolate. I also love my family. Grandpa Cacao by Elizabeth Zunon is the story about a grandfather who she never knew.  He grew up harvesting cocoa beans in West Africa and she grew up in Albany, New York.  It starts off with her dad making a chocolate cake while mom is running an errand. There are lots of things in the book for some people to love, but as a book with broad appeal Grandpa Cacao falls short, despite its obvious good intentions.

The book shows her grandfather scooping out cacao beans, drying them out and then smashing them into the chocolaty extract that kids everywhere love.

As an illustrated book with an emphasis on art, Grandpa Cacao succeeds wildly. The images are layered with collages, paintings and silk screening techniques. The pages have more in common with an art gallery then some children will be accustomed to. As an exercise in art appreciation that is great, however, the result as an illustrated book-which is what this is, is something different.

The mixed media pages clash together in some instance which caused the story to become secondary. Granted, we love some children’s books where the art or the presentation overtakes the story. But here it’s different because it’s obvious that the story means so much to the author.

The other reason that the book felt jarring is because there is too much text. The book’s full title, Grandpa Cacao, A Tale of Chocolate, From Farm To Family gives a glimpse into the scale it’s attempting.  The pages have too much text for the book to be a true “children’s book” in the sense that you read it to them. Most parents would check out halfway through the book if they’re reading it to a small child and the small children wouldn’t be too far behind.

Likewise, the vocabulary in the book is too advanced for young readers who might be drawn in by the cool visuals. The result is a well intended book that’s too artsy for older kids and too wordy for younger kids. Chocolate is great and there’s a cool children’s book out there to tell about how it’s farmed, but this isn’t it for most readers.