Cocoa Ice

by Diana Appelbaum

Presents a charming and vibrantly illustrated story of two young girls, one from a tropical island and the other from a New England village, who are linked together by a sailor, a gift for imagining a life far away, and a love for iced chocolate.

Genres: Picture Books, Geography, Historical Fiction, Childrens

56 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Also writes under the name Diana Muir.
Diana Muir, also known as Diana Muir Appelbaum, is a Newton, Massachusetts historian best known for her 2000 book Reflections in Bullough's Pond, a history of the impact of human activity on the New England ecosystem.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice kid's book for ages 4--7. The first half describes the traditional harvest and processing of cocoa beans, from tree to chocolate powder. The second half describes how ice was mined in big blocks from frozen rivers in the northeast. The two stories are tied together by a trade relationship: the schooner brings ice to the Caribbean, and the sailors trade it to the locals for chocolate and other tropical goods. There is a girl in each story, and they know about each other through their mutual friend/uncle, a sailor. The girls are fascinated by their counterparts in the other clime...the Caribbean girl sends a conch shell home with the sailor, and the girl from Maine has sent her a pouch of fragrant balsam needles.

I enjoy reading this one to my kids because I didn't have a good grasp of the cocoa harvest process myself, so we all learned together. The paintings are lovely, the text is just the right length, and both halves of the story are interesting and tie together nicely.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a great parallel between the lives of two girls who live in completely different locations. This would be a good lead in for a study of maps in Social Studies. The two locations mentioned in the book are Maine and Santa Domingo; clearly complete opposites. I appreciated the contrast depicted with the descriptions of both locations. Students would be able to consider why cocoa beans grow in Santa Domingo, but not in Maine. Probing questions about the sun and location would help to make great connections!

[Cheryl]

Read in a school textbook (LFL find). Not sure how much it's redesigned or abridged, so can't rate. Also not so sure the island girl would have such a happy childhood in this era*. (Note that textbooks tend to choose and adapt entries to fit with Texans' conservative values because Texas is such a big market for them. So I have a feeling this story is 'whitewashed.')

*What era? Schooners, icehouses, no electricity.
Interesting to learn about how to get chocolate, and how to make ice (hard work!).

"Conch" should have been in the vocabulary list in this textbook. At least tell kids how to pronounce it... I didn't know until I was in my 30s!

Oct. 2023

[Marta-Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this tale of two girls from very different places being connected by trade and chocolate. In Santo Domingo, a young girl helps her family harvest & process cacao pods to be traded for ice from a northern schooner. A girl from Maine watches her Papa and uncle cut and store blocks of ice to be sent abroad. Both enjoy chocolate treats and daydream about distant places.

[Mother Goose Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two young girls, one in the Dominican, the other in Maine, think what it’s like to be in the others place as their father and uncle trade ice and cocoa. Rich descriptions of how cocoa is made and how chocolate ice cream is made. This is a sweet story with rich illustrations. It’s a fun read aloud to learn about different places in our world.

[Kelle Treadwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maine. My kids loved this book.

[Carrie Buczynski · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Katie Kitchpanich · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of all time. I can't wait to read this to my kids someday. Highly recommend for anyone of any age!

[Ronda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found that this story seemed to flow better for my 4th and 5th graders when I introduced it by refreshing their memories as to what historical fiction, talking about how easily we might be able to get things like tropical fruits and chocolate and ice these days, setting the scene by reminding them of what they already knew about the time period (1870s), then reading the author's note at the end before reading the story. During the story, I paused occasionally to use our online encyclopedia and image database to show pictures if some of the unfamiliar things, like schooners, actual photos of cocoa pods, the pulp, and the beans, conchs, and even balsam pine needles. it also helped to remind them of the scene in Frozen where they were harvesting ice.

I loved the symmetry of the story between the two girls and their two very different lives and worlds, with the circle formed by the intros to each section showing the girl with her gift from the other, and tied together by Uncle Jacob and the hot chocolate.

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 5 out of 5]

SUMMARY: A girl in Santo Domingo tells how cocoa is harvested during the late 1800s while at the same time her counterpart is Maine tells about the harvesting of ice.

REVIEW: This could almost be one of those topsy-turvy books were one story reads from the front and then you flip it over and read the second story starting from the back because it is the same story from two different points of view from two different locations that intersect on the high seas. Both girls, similar in age, have very different lives and are in awe of the their counterpart’s life and home. It is interesting to see that Santo Domingo needs ice to make their cocoa ice and Maine needs the cocoa to create their chocolate ice cream.

NOTE: The front endpage shows a large area map with the sea trip route marked. Did you notice the compass has in its center a cocoa pod cut in half showing the cocoa seeds inside

ACTIVITY: Can you compare the two girls, their homes, their families, the climate, their culture, their clothes, their treasures?

[CH - Marvin Childress · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cocoa Ice, is an odd story about two girls, one from Santo Domingo, the other from Maine. These two girls, of very different backgrounds, are joined together through the uncle of the girl from Maine. He trades ice for cocoa during his sail from Maine to Santo Domingo. The girls never meet outside of seeing pictures of each other, but their lives so different, and yet identical, from their relationship with their families to their joy for drinking hot chocolate.

I love this story for its message, however, it felt weird reading it...it seemed to have no past and no future, it just existed; until the end when things came together.

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. The parallel lives of two little girls who live half a world away is a great way to show how despite our differences, we share many things in common. The factual information in the back of the book gives added dimension to the story and allows the reader to locate the girls' lives in time and space. Each story also emphasizes the rewards of daily life, chores, relaxation and family. On top of that, we get a little horticultural knowledge about cocoa! When my daughter saw a cacao tree on a visit to a botanical garden she identified it immediately from having heard about it in this book.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

We discovered this book over 15 yrs ago. The whole book is engaging and insightful. I love the way the author shows how the two lifestyles meet. The parents of the island girl and the uncle of the northern girl make way for these to girls to share a part of their world, as providers a and teachers. Fictional history is a favorite of mine and my children. Year after year we've enjoyed the lesson of frienship, trade, geography and where a favorite food CHOCOLATE comes from. Read this book and discover what lesson this beautiful story has for you.

[Lucia Benzor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great way to explore the concept of trading and where we get the things we need. Can make kids think more internationally which is always a good thing. Nice illustrations and creative that they separated it almost into two different stories. It was a bit long though.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It's set half in Santa Domingo in the Caribbean and half in Maine. You learn how chocolate is made and how the folks in Maine got ice (it was trickier than I thought). Excellent book!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what delicious art, and a moving story, about how children in different lands are connected. My 3 year old liked it, but it's really for older children as there some interesting factual information presented. We will revisit it when we are 6 or 7.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit long for storytimes but nevertheless a great picture book with two parallel stories of young girls on either side of the cocoa-ice trade.

[Crystal]

the blended the cocoa seed
they made it in to cocoa ice
the made the cocoa ice into some good freezing choclate

[Jennifer knighten]

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[Queer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sentimental crap.

[Anne Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it in 3rd grade and I still think it is awesome!

[Lexie]

This is a great story to use while comparing/contrasting by using a t-chart or venn diagram to discuss the difference and similarities between the places that the two girls live.