What a fun little whimsical book! Young Julia and Simca love cooking, and never want to be busy, harried grown-ups, so they decide to make recipes for "growing young"... but things don't turn out exactly as they planned.

I loved Julie Morstad's illustrations; they're pretty and interesting without being over done.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley. ( )

This book was given to me by Tundra Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada in return for this review.

I wasn't able to connect to this story very well. Because of the cover, I was hoping to see more narrative nonfiction about Julia Child or even a fun play on cooking. However, the book takes a turn encouraging adults to be a bit more childlike, "less beastly and a little more generous." The beginning of the story is mostly about Julia and her friend, Simca, making cooking decisions together. I think if the author had stuck to that route it would have seemed more connected throughout the entire book. I blame the editor for the lack of coherency throughout the text. That should have been flushed out and some decisions were made that could have been better for the reader.

I have to give accoldes to Julie Morstad, the illustrator. The illustrations are really neat and the cover is BEAUTIFUL! I loved how the smoke/scents of the cooking were drawn in rainbow and having an effect on people in the picture. I loved all of the artistic decisions made in this book, even down to the font choice. ( )

A quaint story of a small chef discovering the limitless possibility of food. While the pictures and vocabulary may not draw a young child this story would appeal to foodies. The unique layout, pictures, and food references may not carry the story for many, and readers should not be misled by the lack of biographical information included in its pages. However, this story should be approached as a cute story which is carried by its name.

I was initially a little disappointed that this book doesn’t actually have anything to do with the Julia Child. That being said, I still found it very charming. In this book the adults all have something to learn from the children. The two girls in this story set out to reteach the “wary and worried, hectic and hurried” grown ups how to have a marvelous time. I enjoyed this book and my four-year-old loved the illustrations. It is a fun story and a perfect lesson for us all, some friends are like sisters, you can never use to much butter and it is best to be a child forever!

This book is so cute! A super fun story about a child version of our favorite chef and her best friend. They struggle to make the adults in their lives remember what it is like to be children, without taking it too far. The pictures are wonderful and the story is fabulous. A great read for children and an even better read for adults, especially food loving adults. :) ( )