{"id":36199,"date":"2019-08-19T21:33:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T01:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36199"},"modified":"2019-08-19T21:33:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T01:33:57","slug":"review-of-magic-ramen-by-andrea-wang-illustrated-by-kana-urbanowicz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36199","title":{"rendered":"Review of Magic Ramen, by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Kana Urbanowicz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/magic_ramen_large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/magic_ramen_large.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"248\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-36275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/magic_ramen_large.jpg 250w, https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/magic_ramen_large-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><em>Magic Ramen<\/p>\n<p>The Story of Momofuku Ando<\/em><\/p>\n<p>by Andrea Wang<br \/>\nillustrated by Kana Urbanowicz<\/p>\n<p>Little Bee Books, 2019.  36 pages.<br \/>\nStarred Review<\/p>\n<p>Okay, the existence of inexpensive ramen noodles that cook in hot water in a couple of minutes is something I\u2019ve always taken for granted.  Cup of soup!  No big deal, right?<\/p>\n<p>This picture book tells the story of an invention that is so widely used, people don\u2019t realize it had to be invented \u2013 instant ramen.<\/p>\n<p>We learn that the motivation for the inventor was seeing people lined up for ramen soup in postwar Japan.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Ando went home, but he couldn\u2019t forget the hungry people.  <em>The world is peaceful only when everyone has enough to eat,<\/em> he realized.  Ando decided that food would be his life\u2019s work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But it wasn\u2019t easy to come up with noodles that could cook quickly in hot water.  This book does a great job of showing the trial and error process of inventing.  Even when he makes noodles that work, then he needs to work on the flavor.  And production.  And publicity.<\/p>\n<p>At the end, it says:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Soon, everyone was eating Ando\u2019s ramen.  Poor people.  Children.  Busy workers.  Even royalty!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>My coworker and I agree that the author forgot to mention college students!<\/p>\n<p>This is a well-presented story about something readers will not take for granted ever again.  The note at the back tells about Ando\u2019s continued inventions, even at the age of 91.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/andreaywang.com\/\">andreaywang.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1499807031\/sonderbooksco-20\" target=\"outside\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Find this review on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sonderbooks.com\">Sonderbooks<\/a> at: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/magic_ramen.html\">www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/magic_ramen.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n<p>Disclaimer:  I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time.  The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"none\" data-via=\"Sonderbooks\">Tweet<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Magic Ramen The Story of Momofuku Ando by Andrea Wang illustrated by Kana Urbanowicz Little Bee Books, 2019. 36 pages. Starred Review Okay, the existence of inexpensive ramen noodles that cook in hot water in a couple of minutes is something I\u2019ve always taken for granted. Cup of soup! No big deal, right? This picture [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-nonfiction-review","category-history","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36199"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36661,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36199\/revisions\/36661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}