COTTON, Tilney Little Chef, Big Curse Scholastic, 2014 210pp $16.99 pbk ISBN 9781742832692 SCIS 1641853
Eleven-year-old Matty Swink is an orphan who lives with a wretched guardian who makes him work as a dish-washer and live under the sink. There is no time to go to school; instead Matty spends all day working in the diner. However Matty has big dreams of becoming a famous chef and leaving the disgusting diner he lives in far behind him. But in order to do this he must win the great cook-off to become the new palace chef. But what is he going to cook when all Fenella, his guardian, cooks is disgusting meals with questionable ingredients (dog fur, fairy floss, anyone?). And how are a 500-year old curse and his grandma’s death involved in it all? This book is full of disgusting meals and language that children aged 8 – 10 will love.
reviewed by Katie Poinomani
