The King's Taster

June 22, 2009
Why won’t the new king eat the cook’s magnificent food? Max, the cheery, bespectacled hound who narrates the story, used to taste the king’s food to test for poison; now he spends most of his time consoling the cook. In an attempt to satisfy the fussy king—a small boy with a wobbly crown and a horrible scowl—Max and the cook travel the world in search of the rarest delicacies—French fries, pizza, chili tacos—to no avail. When Max discovers the king snacking on the sly, ruining his appetite, he alerts the cook. “I will tell your mother,” the cook promises the small king. “You wouldn’t,” replies the king. “I would,” says the cook, “and I will.” With the boy finally “eating like a king,” success and reward for the cook and his dog follow. Oppel (Airborn
) cooks up punchy, ready-for-television dialogue, while the rich, textural spreads of Johnson and Fancher (What a Good Big Brother
) make use of unexpected materials—recipe cards for the cook’s clothing, for instance—and kid-pleasing details, as when the king splatters a whole pizza against a wall via catapult. Ages 3–6.

July 1, 2009
Cheerful, bespectacled dog Max is the royal food-taster. The new king, a small boy, only "picks and pokes" at his food; even reliable child-pleasers won't do, so Max helps the cook seek new recipes. The story's humor is milked to full effect in both the lively text and well-wrought art, which skillfully incorporates patterns (including scraps of recipes) counterpointing freely applied watercolors.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2009
Max's job is tasting the king's food "before he eats it, to make sure it's not poisoned." As a dog, he also enjoys licking pots in the royal kitchen, where his master the cook stirs up royally delicious meals. But now there's a new king, a small boy who "picks and pokes" at food and hurls it from the table. Desperate, the cook and his hound seek recipes abroad, but even reliable child-pleasers like French fries and pizza won't do -- the young king catapults it all away. A worried Max tracks the king to his bedroom, finds him gorging on candy, and enlists the cook's help. When the young miscreant protests, "You can't tell me what to do! I'm the king," the cook trumps him -- "I will tell your mother!" -- and the tyrant learns to appreciate his royal meals. Fancher and Johnson catch the spirit of this instructive tall tale with Max as a cheerful, bespectacled hound and the boy (in a paper crown) as a lonely, disconsolate preschooler who gets no joy from getting his own way. Children will be intrigued by Max's job; the ironies of its benefits, given a king who won't eat, are milked to full comic effect in both the lively text and the exceptionally well wrought art, with its many skillfully incorporated bits of pattern (including scraps of recipes) counterpointing freely applied watercolors. A tale fit for a king.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from March 15, 2009
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* Max loves his job as the cooks dog and the kings taster, making sure the food isnt poisoned. He enthuses, My names Max and I eat like a king. However, when the new king (a young boy) refuses to eat the food, Max and the cook go in search of kitchens in Paris, Italy, and Mexico for tasty new recipes, but French fries, pizza, and chili tacos are all rejected. Off with his head! orders the king. Unable to sleep that night, Max follows a shadow scuttling out of the kitchen; he wakes the cook and they peek through the keyhole. There is His Highness sitting in bed eating candylicorices, ginger cookies, and huge hunks of marzipan! When the cook threatens to tell his mother, the king relents, and, at last, eats everything on the plate. The mixed-media illustrations are deliciously capricious with clever collage detailsfor example, the cooks jacket is constructed of photographed fabric with handwritten recipes all over it, and the beagle, Max, for some goofy reason, wears glasses. Kids will relish this comic culinary calamity, especially the peek-a-boo sight of the king in his accidentally revealing pjs. A crackerjack treat.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2009
K-Gr 3-Being the royal food taster is a treat for Max the doguntil the arrival of a new monarch. Suddenly the cook's delectable meals don't cut it anymorethis king is a picky little boy. Max and the cook travel extensively, looking for new recipes for the temperamental royal, but French fries, tacos, and even pizza are rejected. Soon Max discovers that the king isn't eating because he is gorging himself on sweets every night. Mystery solved, the boy eats, and the cook's life is saved. Oppel's writing is lush: "]and in the Piazza San Marco, we learned of fabulous breads and herbs, sausages and cheeses." Kids will be familiar with the foods Max and the cook discover around the world, but their curiosity will be piqued when they read about peacock, venison, syllabub, and rose puddings. The illustrations were done with a layered mix of acrylic and collage with liberal use of handwritten and printed recipes as backgrounds to create the rich and textured art. Astute children will see the conclusion comingthe king has chocolate wrappers peeking out of his crown throughout the story."Laura Lutz, Queens Borough Public Library, NY"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.