Historical Fiction, A Fine Desert

Title: A Fine Desert
Author: Emily Jenkins
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Publish Date: January 2015
ISBN: 0375868321

Bethany's Rating:5/5


Summary: This story shows 4 different centuries in 4 different locations all making the same recipe. The first is Lyme, England, 1710, is this era we get to see a little white girl with her Mom. The little girl has to pick the berries, milk the cow and get the cream from the top of the milk and whisk the cream for 15 minutes, she drew water from the well, Smashed the berries, chilled the mixture in the ice pit and then served it after dinner that night. The next family lived in Charleston, South Carolina, 1810. This was an African American family who were servants in the south. They picked berries from the garden, had the cream delivered by the dairy and the little girl whisked the cream for 10 minutes, then she washed the berries in the well, smashed the berries and put the mixture in an ice box till dinner. Then she served it to the master and his family. The next family was from Boston, Massachusetts, 1910. This little girl went to the market bough berries, had cream delivered to their home , and the girl whisked the cream for 5 minuets, she washed the berries in the sink from the faucet, smashed the berries then put the berries in an ice box, after dinner they her family ate the desert. The last family lived in San Diego, California in the current year. This family is a little boy and his dad. They go to the store buy berries and cream, go home and the Dad searches the internet for a recipe. The little boy uses an electric mixer and whisks the cream for 2 minuets, he washes the berries in the sink and then uses a food processor to mash the berries and he puts the mixture in the refrigerator. They serve it after a dinner party with many friend from many different cultures with many different ethnicities. 

 Evaluation: This was my favorite of the three historical fictions books that I read for this blog. The author told exactly was century is was and where in the U.S. is was. She took into account all of the different tools that they would have used in that time period and used the language of what the tools would have been called and even showed an enlarged version of it. I even liked how the author showed that today we are living in world were the boys can do that the cooking and dads can help out were in the past that would have been apropos and I really liked how the author showed the mixed ethnicities in the end showing the mixing pot that America is. I liked how she connected it through the years showing that even though times have changed and how we cook has changed the whole concept of family togetherness is still there with families cooking together and eating together.