School ends this week in much of the northeast, where I currently live. To celebrate, I think chocolate is in order. I hope you agree!
Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, From Farm to Family
Author & Illustrator: Elizabeth Zunon
Publisher/Date: Bloomsbury Childrens Books/May 2019
Ages: 3-6
Themes: grandparents, chocolate, family history
Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):
This beautifully illustrated story connects past and present as a girl bakes a chocolate cake with her father and learns about her grandfather harvesting cacao beans in West Africa.
Chocolate is the perfect treat, everywhere!
As a little girl and her father bake her birthday cake together, Daddy tells the story of her Grandpa Cacao, a farmer from the Ivory Coast in West Africa. In a land where elephants roam and the air is hot and damp, Grandpa Cacao worked in his village to harvest cacao, the most important ingredient in chocolate. “Chocolate is a gift to you from Grandpa Cacao,” Daddy says. “We can only enjoy chocolate treats thanks to farmers like him.” Once the cake is baked, it’s ready to eat, but this isn’t her only birthday present. There’s a special surprise waiting at the front door . . .
Read my review.
No Monkeys, No Chocolate
Authors: Melissa Stewart and Allen Young
Illustrator: Nicole Wong
Publisher/Date: Charlesbridge/2013
Ages: 5-8
Themes: chocolate, non-fiction, nature
Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Everyone loves chocolate, right? But how many people actually know where chocolate comes from? How it’s made? Or that monkeys do their part to help this delicious sweet exist?
This delectable dessert comes from cocoa beans, which grow on cocoa trees in tropical rain forests. But those trees couldn’t survive without the help of a menagerie of rain forest critters: a pollen-sucking midge, an aphid-munching anole lizard, brain-eating coffin fly maggots—they all pitch in to help the cocoa tree survive. A secondary layer of text delves deeper into statements such as “Cocoa flowers can’t bloom without cocoa leaves . . . and maggots,” explaining the interdependence of the plants and animals in the tropical rain forests. Two wise-cracking bookworms appear on every page, adding humor and further commentary, making this book accessible to readers of different ages and reading levels.
Back matter includes information about cocoa farming and rain forest preservation, as well as an author’s note.
Read a review at The Classroom Bookshelf.
I paired these books because they discuss aspects of chocolate production. In Grandpa Cacao, the emphasis is on the people involved in growing and harvesting cacao beans, in particular the main character’s grandfather in West Africa. In No Monkeys, No Chocolate, the emphasis is on the growth of cocoa trees in the rainforest and the interaction of the many rainforest creatures that enable these trees to continue to grow. Read together, readers learn about the origins of a favorite food.
Wander, Ponder, Write 
So lovely 😊