I was walking in the city a few days ago and was pleasantly surprised to pass not one, not two, but three ice cream trucks. Listening to their jingly tunes compete with church bells, car horns and the other city sounds reminded me of long-ago summer evenings when I’d race down my suburban street, chasing the jingly-jangly music and a cool ice cream cone.
Saffron Ice Cream
Author & Illustrator: Rashin Kheiriyeh
Publisher/Date: Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc./June 2018
Ages: 4-8
Themes: immigrant, moving home, summer, beach, ice cream, customs, friendship
Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Rashin is excited about her first visit to the beach in her family’s new home. On the way there, she remembers what beach trips were like in Iran, the beautiful Caspian Sea, the Persian music, and most of all, the saffron ice cream she shared with her best friend, Azadeh. But there are wonderful things in this new place as well — a subway train, exciting music… and maybe even a new friend!
Read my review.
Scoop the Ice Cream Truck
Author & Illustrator: Patricia Keeler
Publisher/Date: Sky Pony Press/2018
Ages: 3-6
Themes: ice cream, being needed, friendship
Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Scoop the Ice Cream Truck has seen a lot of summers selling his vanilla ice cream cones across the city. But he’s getting old, and the new trucks are getting fancier. Now they have waffle cones, jumbo sundaes, flash frozen ice cream, twenty-seven flavors and six special toppings. Feeling like he’s fallen behind, Scoop decides that it’s time for a redesign. But when his old frame can’t handle the new upgrades, can Scoop discover his own value and find the right spot to sell his vanilla cones?
Read a review at Kirkus Reviews.
I paired these books because of the focus on ice cream, and because they both are written by illustrator-authors. But, thinking about them together, I realize there’s a bigger connection, too. In Saffron Ice Cream, the main character, young Rashin, leaves her homeland and journeys to the United States where she discovers that ice cream trucks exist here, even if they don’t feature her favorite flavor, saffron, as do new friends. In Scoop, where the ice cream truck itself is the main character, the journey is less about distance than about time: Scoop feels left behind by a world that prefers super-sized treats of more flavors and types than I remember from my childhood (or even my kids’ childhoods). But even if “old fashioned”, Scoop has a role to fulfill and a young child to befriend. I hope you enjoy both books – with a scoop or two of your favorite ice cream!
Looking for similar reads?
See, The Ice Cream King, Steve Metzger/Julie Downing (Tiger Tales/2011).
Wander, Ponder, Write 