The Screaming Chef

A young boy finds his calling as the chef of a fancy restaurant in this read-aloud picture book.

Comfort food indeed! Eating outrageously fine cuisine is the sole activity that stops this young lad from screaming incessantly. But one fateful night, when his parents accidentally burn dinner, the boy’s temper flares and he begins to yell. Tired of all the noise, Mom and Dad relinquish all cooking responsibilities, leaving it all up to him. E voila! The boy so enjoys cooking that he sings instead of screams, and finds that he is so talented that his parents open a restaurant with the boy as head chef.

But life in the kitchen of an acclaimed and busy restaurant is not easy, so when the boy begins to make mistakes, will his penchant for earsplitting noise ruin everything?

Witty text and clever illustrations combine to create a silly yet serious picture book for readers of all ages which teaches kids that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, especially when you’re singing. The New York Times wrote, Ackerman and Dalton (The Lonely Phone Booth

) have cooked up something witty and, as an example of the parental art of redirecting, perhaps inadvertently wise.