Grandpa Cacao: a Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family

This beautifully illustrated story connects past and present as a girl bakes a chocolate cake with her father and learns about her grandfather harvesting cacao beans in West Africa.

Chocolate is the perfect treat, everywhere! 

As a little girl and her father bake her birthday cake together, Daddy tells the story of her Grandpa Cacao, a farmer from the Ivory Coast in West Africa. In a land where elephants roam and the air is hot and damp, Grandpa Cacao worked in his village to harvest cacao, the most important ingredient in chocolate. "Chocolate is a gift to you from Grandpa Cacao," Daddy says. "We can only enjoy chocolate treats thanks to farmers like him." Once the cake is baked, it's ready to eat, but this isn't her only birthday present. There's a special surprise waiting at the front door . . .

May 2019

Bloomsbury Children's Books

Ages 3-6

ISBN 978-1-6811-9640-4

Written by Elizabeth Zunon

"Sometimes a relative we’ve never met looms extra large in the imagination, as in this heartfelt book about a girl and her grandfather, a cacao farmer in Africa. “I’ve heard his voice on the phone,” she says. “I can almost picture him.” As she and her father make a chocolate cake, he tells her of his childhood in the Ivory Coast, where her “Grandpa Cacao” worked hard to produce the plant that makes chocolate. Zunon, who based the story on her own childhood, uses a winsome blend of paint, collage and ghostly screen-printed figures that represent the faraway Grandpa Cacao — who appears in a buoyant surprise ending, just as the cake is ready." - Maria Russo, The New York Times Book Review

"... Zunon’s first authored–illustrated picture book takes readers back and forth between the girl’s kitchen and the grandfather’s farm... The illustrations have a majestic feeling, as though the main characters control the scene. Moreover, this large scale encourages the readers’ eyes to focus on the charismatic pictorial elements, which utilize colors to elicit an emotional connection... VERDICT With an educational approach sure to expand the minds of children, this is an engaging multicultural addition for a public library picture book collection." - Kathia ­Ibacache, School Library Journal (starred review)

“Replete with sensory details, and two spreads of backmatter round out the informational content, including maps, history, and a cake recipe. Delectable treats plus family history make this a sweet story to share.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Gracefully intertwines the past and present.” - Booklist

“Striking oil paint, collage, and screen-printed illustrations . . . point to the importance of traditions to those in the African diaspora when they settle in new places.” - Horn Book Magazine

“Zunon conveys how scents and shared recipes can connect the past to the present.” - Publishers Weekly