Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry, the three old-time favorite flavors, are
the exciting subject of this book by Bonnie Busenberg. After a general introduction of flavors and how we taste and smell the flavors, there is a thorough description of the history, science, production, and use of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.

The text is packed with lots of information. For example, in the chocolate chapter, you can read about Cortez's discovery of chocolatl and the eventual global spread of chocolate. The strawberry chapter includes information on strawberry breeding, planting, anatomy of the plant depicted with clear large scientific drawings, and the science of developing artificial flavors. In the vanilla chapter, it has a detailed description of the process of turning a growing vanilla pod on a tree to vanilla extract in the kitchen. The text is interspersed with photos, drawings and maps that support and help the reader to understand the text. The maps have all the countries labeled where the subject is grown. Mrs. Busenberg writes clearly, and sticks to the subject. Scientific terms found in the text are in bold type, and are explained in the glossary in the back of the book. The book has a glossary, index, metric conversion chart, and cooking tips, but no list of related books. The recipes at the end of each chapter are in a handwritten font, but still very readable, could be a lot bigger.

I think that this is a very good book, I would give it a four out of five star rating, and make it a full Cornerstones of Science book. Somebody should write a book just like this one, but with different flavor subjects. This book left me itching for more. Good work, Mrs. Busenberg!

~ Patrick K. of Tempe, AZ
1st Place 6th Grade / Read Write & Win 2007