Crabs for Dinner

Brenda Baltensperger is a playwright, a director of children’s
theatre, an editor of children’s fiction, and the author of Fractured
Fairy-tales.

The narrator and his sister refuse to eat crab, fufu, and palm nut soup,
a traditional Ghanaian dish. When their grandmother comes to visit from
Ghana, the children vow they will never wear the colorful traditional
clothing she brings as a gift. However, the children are soon caught up
in Grandma’s stories, which were told to her when she was a child.
When Grandma makes a meal of the dreaded crab, potato fufu, and palm nut
soup before her return to Ghana, the children are amazed at how
delicious it is.

This lovely story conveys the importance of preserving traditional
events, foods, and customs before they are lost, and of striking the
right balance between the old and the new. Complementing the text are
warm, vibrant illustrations. Recommended.