Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Book 1

Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Book 1

In a world where there are dragons, wyverns, and haunted squash, you’d figure someone would have recipes for them, right? Rutabaga and his magic cooking pot, Pot, join young adventurers Winnifred, Manny, and Beef on a quest to defeat a dragon, discover new ingredients, find monsters to have for and/or to dinner, and to save the day through cooking. Rutabaga will dare any danger to uncover new tastes, and there’s a whole world full of food to try—from roasted mud leech to spider soup to peanut butter on crackers. His heroic recipes combine real ingredients, fantasy ingredients, and real ingredients that sound fantastical. Rutabaga the Adventure Chef is the perfect adventure for any kid grossed out when something weird shows up on the dinner table. Gr 2–4—Rutabaga is on the prowl for adventure, but not the kind that most knights and warriors yearn for. As an adventure chef, Rutabaga, along with his magical walking kettle, Pot, explores magical lands and looks for rare ingredients and exotic monsters to cook in order to make the most amazing meals possible. He first follows a group of knights on the hunt for a giant and possibly tasty dragon and soon ends up cooking for everyone, from kings and royal pets to barbarians and ghosts. Things hardly ever go as planned, however, and Rutabaga often has to concoct an exquisite dish to solve his problems and help his friends. As the story continues, Rutabaga doesn't really transition between adventures and more or less just wanders off until he happens on his next quest, making this selection feel more like a collection of short comics than an actual book. Still, author Colossal perfectly mixes action and humor, similar in style to "Adventure Time" comics writer Ryan North, only with simple enough language to please the chapter book-reading crowd. And his simple, manga-influenced illustrations will be just as easily accessible. A promising first course in a series that could really take off.—Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI "Colossal's full-color, cartoonish illustrations, with their heavy linework and simple figures, match the light, goofy tone of the stories." ― Kirkus Reviews Published On: 2014-12-15 "Colossal perfectly mixes action and humor...A promising first course in a series that could really take off." -- Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI ― School Library Journal Published On: 2015-01-01 "Rutabaga’s culinary feats in the comic...could easily inspire young adventure chefs to make some gourmet grub of their own." -- Sarah Hunter ― Booklist Published On: 2015-01-01 "The graphic-novel format works well here, pairing vivid retro-toned illustrations with a mostly cheerful, bouncy narration...future chefs will be well pleased that there are a few real recipes at the end of the book." ― The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Eric Colossal graduated from the School of Visual Arts. During the day he works at a video game company, with credits including Guitar Hero and Spider-Man 3. At night and on weekends he works on comics, cartoons, and indie games. He lives in Troy, New York.