Future House Publishing
ISBN: 978-1441473844
Published June 7, 2012
Trade paperback, 304 pages
When I read the premise of this book, I
knew I wanted to read it. An 11-year old picky eater? A desperate mom
in search of something for her son to eat? The discovery of a
legendary recipe that takes the Johnsonvilles on a wild adventurous
journey through ancient ruins, deep jungles and forgotten caves? Yup,
we were in. I read this book with my daughter and we loved it! We
especially liked all the descriptions of the food and how they
tasted. We were drooling and hungry every time we read it.
Guster Johnsonville is a picky eater
whose taste buds are so enhanced he can taste where the orange was
grown the minute he bites into it. This can bring untold delight if
he eats food prepared by a chef who uses only the best ingredients
and has spent countless hours perfecting the meal, but becomes a
problem for him when his mom puts together a simple casserole. He
refuses everything she makes, making him hungry and so skinny it
drives his mother to desperate measures. Sounds familiar?
They end up at a patisserie in New
Orleans where a dying pastry chef tells him of the One Recipe called
The Gastronomy of Peace, a recipe so delicious that if you tasted it,
you'd never want to eat anything again. Then he gives Guster an old
eggbeater just before they are attacked by an evil chef dressed all
in red who chases them with a meat cleaver. They discover the
eggbeater has symbols engraved on its handle and instructions they
figure leads them to the One Recipe. So together with all his
siblings, including his smart sister Mariah and his toddler brother,
Guster's mom piles her family into the car and they take off. Thus
the adventure to faraway lands begins.
In many ways this book reminded me of The 39 Clues series, because the Johnsonvilles were on a search for a
formula (the One Recipe) that could change the world. It was full of
adventure, quirky characters, funny situations and dangerous
missions. I loved that there was a mom involved in this family
adventure story. She was a cool, but typical mom.
The evil chef was part of the Cult of
Gastronimatti who were also after the One Recipe. The chase was on
and Guster and his family tried to stay one step ahead of them,
making this an exciting and suspenseful read. Sometimes my daughter
would ask me to re-read certain sections because she didn't quite get
what was going on (there was a lot of action), but overall we loved
the action and appropriately felt both Guster and his mom's dilemmas.
The scenes are so vivid, we could easily see them in a movie, and no
wonder for the author has a career that puts his computer graphic
skills to use in creating characters for blockbuster films.
This is a story that celebrates good
food, family unity, mothers, and ultimately the love that comes from
a good home-cooked meal. We're excited that further perilous
delicious adventures are soon to come in the second book of this series, Evertaster
– The Delicious City. For all lovers of chocolate, good food,
and action-adventure tales, Evertaster will have you looking
for that One Recipe in your life too. Highly recommended if you want
a fun book to read!
Note: This book is rated V = mild violence for scenes with the evil chef and his meat cleaver. Not scary.
I will count this book toward the following challenges: A - Z Book Challenge
This is one of the best book trailers I have seen! You can tell the author is in the movie-making industry.
About the author:
In between books, Adam Glendon Sidwell uses the power of computers to make monsters, robots and zombies come to life for blockbuster movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, King Kong, Transformers and Tron. After spending countless hours in front of a keyboard meticulously adjusting tentacles, calibrating hydraulics, and brushing monkey fur, he is delighted at the prospect of modifying his creations with the flick of a few deftly placed adjectives. He’s been eating food since age 7, so feels very qualified to write this book. He once showed a famous movie star where the bathroom was. Adam currently lives in Los Angeles, where he can’t wait to fall into the sea.Connect with the author on his Website and on Facebook. Find the book on Amazon.com.
Disclosure: Thanks the publicist for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.
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