Everybody Bakes Bread

by Norah Dooley, Peter J. Thornton (Illustrator)

In this sequel to the enormously popular Everybody Cooks Rice , young Carrie is sent on a mission by her to search the neighborhood for a "three-handled rolling pin." While on her quest, Carrie discovers that although her neighbors hail from several different countries, they all enjoy the tastes and smells of home-baked bread.

Genres: Picture Books, Cultural, Childrens, Fiction, Food, Family, Cooking

40 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1995 picture book Everybody Bakes Bread (a multicultural story and cookbook combination by the same author and illustrator team who also created Everybody Cooks Rice, Everybody Serves Soup and Everybody Brings Noodles and with all four titles featuring a tween girl named Carrie as the main protagonist) Norah Dooley's text and Peter J. Thornton's accompanying artwork show Carrie and her younger brother Anthony helping their mother make great-grandmother's Italian bread (on a cold and rainy day). However, when the siblings begin squabbling and being disruptive, Carrie is sent on an errand to ask neighbours to borrow a three-handled rolling pin (a non existent item of course, and thus a fools' errand, but this of course stops Carrie and Anthony quarrelling and also lets Carrie sample six different breads from all over the world since in Everybody Bakes Bread the entire and very multicultural neighbourhood seems to be baking). And very much appreciatively, at the back of Everybody Bakes Breads there are recipes for each of the breads Carrie is able to sample during her "errand" as well as the recipe for the Italian bread Carrie's mother is making (namely Barbadian coconut bread, Indian chapatis, Southern USA corn bread, Lebanese pocket bread, Jewish challah and El Savadorean pupusas, and jut to point out that while the recipes for Everybody Bakes Bread are not overly complicated, in my opinion, they do require adult supervision and probably also adult help, well, at least of novice bread bakers).

Although both the narrative and the illustrations for Everybody Bakes Bread are very much driven by Dooley and Thornton's mission to showcase bread recipes from various traditions and cultures and that the subplots about a planned kickball game and large puddles are therefore simply a bit of textual padding so to speak, and not to mention that in particular the African American family featured in Everybody Bakes Bread feels a trifle stereotypical, yes, Everybody Bakes Bread sure does generally offer a decently appealing combination of story and cookbook and that what Norah Dooley writes and Peter J. Thornton illustrates work very well together (although I personally do tend to think that Thornton's human characters are a bit too garish looking for my aesthetic tastes, but not enough for me to consider a lower star rating). And indeed, the only reason why my rating for Everybody Bakes Bread is not yet five stars, is that for one I wish that Dooley would also consider breads from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Africa and Central/Northern Europe (although this would probably make Everybody Bakes Bread above and beyond a picture book), and for two (and more importantly) that it should be mentioned how pocket bread is also called pita bread and that challah is pretty much the same as many European yeast loafs (like the Italian bread Carrie's mother is baking and also like what in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland is known as Hefezopf, as a yeast braid).

[Srujan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars rounding up to 4 stars because I liked the books, and the gorgeous illustrations, enough to not contribute to bringing it's average rating down. I don't want to criticize it but I also feel like I wanted a bit more from it. :) Pick it up! You might like it too! <3

[Natalia Leston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Text Set Book #5

In this story, two young children are bored on a rainy day as their mother is baking bread. She send them on a clever search for a “3 handled rolling pin” and the kids begin to visit all of their neighbors in search for the baking tool. As they do this, they learn about different types of bread from around the world, as well as cultural significances of these breads. They learn about coconut bread, chapatis, corn bread, pocket bread, challah, pupusa, Italian bread, and braided bread.

This book will spark an interest in countries and their geography, and should be paired up with a map of the world. Teacher should have map present during read aloud and have students locate the different countries in the world. Then, The teacher should have students break off into groups for an assignment, in which they find 10 facts about the country and culture they are assigned, as mentioned in the book.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carrie and her brother, Anthony, are helping Mom make bread. But when the two begin squabbling, Mom sends Carrie on an errand. Will Carrie be able to find the three-handled rolling pin she’s looking for in one of the neighbors’ kitchens? And what will she discover as she visits other homes in the neighborhood?

Filled with colorful illustrations, this clever story introduces young readers to families of different cultures through the types of bread they make. As the story unfolds, readers will learn that, although breads may differ, everyone enjoys the smell and taste of homemade bread. And thanks to the included recipes, youngsters will be able to try the different breads in their own homes.

Although marketed as a picture book with a second grade reading level, its Lexile rating of 670 places the book at an end-of-third-grade level for independent reading. It’s a bit wordy for young readers, but it’s a perfect book for diversity education or for parents and children to enjoy together.

Recommended.

[Jennifer Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book that made me laugh. It is about a little girl who was baking bread with her mom and little brother. The two siblings kept fighting so the mother told the little girl to go ask around at the neighbors and find a three-handed rolling pin. The girl went from house to house. Each family was from a different culture. They each were baking and let the girl try their bread. All day she got to visit with friends and neighbors. Eventually she realizes her mom had tricked her, there is no such thing as a three-handed rolling pin. The mother simples wanted the brother and sister to stop fighting. The girls was happy she was able to visit so many people. In the back of the book was all the recipes of the breads shown in the book. This book involved pictures that signified cultures from all over the world. Great way to show different traditions for different people.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are an number of ways one can share about cultures and one of those is through cooking, in this case 'baking bread.' This time it's a rainy Saturday and a young girl is sent on a fool's errand to borrow a three-handled rolling pin. Along the way, rainy puddles are jumped into, kids are asked to play a kickball game after lunch, and the important visits to neighbors show loving people who are baking their own kinds of bread, cornbread, chapatis, flatbread, etc. It's a nice book, and will be a wonderful support to a baking unit!

[Ashley Correll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carrie and her brother are quarreling in the kitchen while their mother is trying to bake bread. Mother sends Carrie on an errand to find a three handled rolling pin. As Carrie goes from neighbor's hom eot neighbor's home, she discovers that everyone bakes bread. carrie samples bread from Barbadian coconut bread to chapatis from India. Cultures represented in this book are Barbadian, Indian, Southern United States, Lebanese, Jewish, and El Salvadorian. Recipes are included.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

During a rainy day Carrie is baking bread with mother and brother. When the two kids begin to fight, mother sends Carrie on a wild goose chase to find a three handled rolling pin to get her out of the house. As Carrie hunts in the neighborhood, she goes to houses where everyone is baking bread. The different ethnic families are baking their cultural bread and invite her to share. All the different recipes are listed in the back.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the idea of this book - a girl travels around her neighborhood and learns about the different breads made all over the world in the homes of her friends. I thought the means of getting her from house to house was clever, and the nations represented were different than those typically examined in multicultural stories. But the illustrations weren't stellar, and some of the characterizations of the various neighbors relied a bit too much on cultural stereotypes.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I probably like the recipes found at the end of the book better than the story. The storyline is mediocre. So are the illustrations. This is a shame since the idea or the message is great: Most countries and cultures makes some type of bread. Unfortunately, I don't think that message was really conveyed as well as it could have been.

[Davanh Souvanarath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I think this children's book was a little overwhelming with words. When I initially skimmed through the story I felt overwhelmed seeing the long paragraphs alongside each page. It does offer children a "sliding glass door" to be able to go into each other these families homes and see how different cultures bake bread. I do think it would be easy for a child to understand what is being represented but I don't think a child would want to read through this entire story. The characters in the story are all very realistic and convincing. The author used supporting details to give us more of an idea of how these characters would be in real life. For example, the author talked about the neighbor taking a while to open the door due to a bad hip and a cane. I thought that was a good detail to add in order for children to step into the sliding glass door and relate or understand the story. This story represented many different cultural groups and allowed children to be exposed to multiple perspectives and values.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carrie is bored and frustrated. It's a rainy day and tensions rise while Mom's baking bread and Carrie wants to help. Carrie tells the story of how her mother sent her on an errand to borrow a rolling pin from a neighbor. In her quest for a rolling pin, Carrie learns about and tastes a diverse range of breads from Barbadian coconut bread to Jewish challah and El Salvadoran pupusa. Breads also include Indian chapitis, South Carolinian corn bread, Lebanon pocket bread, and Italian bread. Recipes for each are included. Interesting story that shows a happy multicultural neighborhood and how even though the bread we bake may be different, we all bake bread.

[Sarah A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent book for sharing about the different cultures found within a neighborhood and how they are all similar, all making bread in slightly different ways.
Read to 3rd graders studying diversity. They loved it.
Didn’t give 5* as it was just a bit too wordy - I had to skip over some sections about the way they were going to play ball later as it took away from the main part of the story.

[Dawn Fielder · Rating 5 out of 5]

added this to our Social Studies collection

[Nolan Brendel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it because the mom talked like a monster (at least in my dad’s interpretation).

[Kirsten Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recipes for all the breads mentioned in the story are included in back matter

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Copyrighted in 1996, this title part of a series of four depicting common foods eaten in various cultures, this one focus on one culturally diverse neighborhood and the break baking occurring in each home. For example coconut bread, challah, corn bread, and pupusas with receipts included.
Text is probably too wordy for the 21st century reader and the illustrations are rather dated, but the title still has value. Other titles in series focus on the staple foods of noodles, rice, and soup.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a funny story that I could see my mother doing to me when I was young. It is about a girl who is stuck inside the house with nothing to do and brothers who are annoying her. So her mother sends her out for a three pen roller. Obviously, that does not exist, but the girl does not realize this and finds that she has a great time even on a rainy day. I enjoyed this book and would read it to my students to predict what happens throughout the story.

[Tierra Wooten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful story that talks about a neighborhood that bakes their own individual styles of bread, but at the end of the day everyone eats bread. I would teach my kids that we all have a different way of doing things but we all have common goals and family values that are similar. I would do an activity where we bake different types of bread that we put in one huge bag like the ones at the grocery store. This would show that at the end of the day we all are still bread as we are people.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second of four books about a friendly, food-loving girl named Carrie who lives in a multicultural neighborhood. Again, the same issues as the first book—not the best writing (especially the dialogue!) or illustrations. But I love that the story revolves around food and that recipes for each of the breads mentioned—from Middle Eastern "pocket bread" to Southern U.S. cornbread—are included in the back of the book.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It did a good job of showing how even on rainy days you can still have fun. It is good book for teaching children that when plans change to go with the flow and make new ones as needed. I will use this in my classroom as a book that I would read when covering different social lessons.

[Jazzmyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the book, Everybody Bakes Bread, a little girl goes to each of her neighbor's house in search for a rolling pin. She then learns that each neighbor makes their bread differently because they are from a different culture. I would use this book display that everyone does not have the same customs as one another.

[Ashanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it when the mom asked her to get a 3 rolling pin but there was no such thing she wanted her to get out the house so that her and her brother can stop fihgting cause she wanted the pice and quit

[Laci · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't very interesting and I don't think it would keep the kids attention. I think it might be good if you are learning about culture or you were going to bake bread after reading the book. An interactive activity.

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book that deals with diversity. Just like everyone has a different way for baking bread, people have different ideas and beliefs that deal with the same concept. I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Taryn Dean]

A little girl visits her neighbors, who are from different cultures, and learn different ways to make bread.. Students will tell about an activity or a food that they know that can be done in many different ways and how each way is different.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this story and how it shows the universality of daily life in families from different parts of the world.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story teaches about bread baking in various cultures and ethnicities. Interesting, but a tad boring in presentation.

[Alexis Ramsey]

Soemone visits different neighborhood houses and learns that everyone has their own culture.
Lesson: the world is on big melting pot

[CFAITC]

A story that introduces children to many different kinds of breads and the recipes to make them.