The Official M&M Brand History of Chocolate

by Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue
Illustrated by Karen E. Pellaton
Published by Charlesbridge 2001
Reading Level 1-2
30 Pages
Genre: Non-Fiction

Summary:
Through out this book we learn from our favorite colored M&M's the history of how they came about. We begin with what chocolate comes from. The Cacao tree, where little pods are grown and then split open and dried. In the old days the used to just eat the beans as the were, crunched up. But as the world was able to advance a machine was created by a dutch man that would separate the bean and the cocoa butter. These two ingredients make most chocolate products. White chocolate actually only has cocoa butter in the recipe, there is no actual cocoa. The timeline of this book is laid out so it goes from 250 BC to today. How it has evolved from a bitter sludge to a sweet drink and solid snack. It was obvious that the point of the book was the M&M's themselves because all the colors in the book were earthy and muted while the M&M's that were brought up and those that bordered text where very bright and tend to draw the eye.

My Reaction:
I knew a lot of the things I read about but it was a very fun way to learn and the illustrations were a great reflection of the text. Showing past cultures and from dress to daily living. I thought it was well written and showed great research, through text and illustrations

Potential Problems:
None

Recommendations:
I think this book would be great for any student who was interested in being an inventor, cook, or even historian. Even kids that just enjoy this M&M's may like to know where they come from. I know kids that love to know random facts just so they have things to share in family discussion and such. This would be a great book for kids that just want to learn.