The Story of Noodles

Rating:
Summary: The Kang brothers are at it again
Review: This is the second of the Boulder-based author's planned trilogy on the origins of three Chinese inventions: chopsticks, noodles, and (I believe) paper. The stories all feature the Kang brothers, three boisterous young boys who live in ancient China and have a penchant for accidentally coming up with new technologies. In this story, the brothers manage to make a mess of the dumpling dough their mother has left them to shape. The dough ends up torn into strips, but they discover that the strips make a tasty dish when they are cooked. This mian tiao (flour strips) dish ends up winning the annual cooking contest.

Children will enjoy the description of the different ways of eating noodles: rolled on the chopsticks is "eating a drumstick"; slurping the noodle is "sucking a worm"; and biting the noodles is "cutting the grass." Young readers will also undoubtedly enjoy the author's note that people in China customarily make big slurping noises while eating noodles.

The illustrations-papercuts which have bold lines and colors reminiscent of stained glass-complement the boisterous, happy tone of the book. As an added bonus, Compestine includes a recipe for "Long-Life Noodles" and a note about the history and customs of noodles.