By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Caroline Hoberecht

Title: Chocolate: Riches from the Rainforest
Author: Robert Burleigh
Illustrator: None
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Number of Pages: 31

Chocolate. MmmMmm! Chocolate bars, chocolate cake, chocolate fudge, chocolate pudding, chocolate truffles, chocolate milk. Does this sound good? Well, book Chocolate: Riches from the Rainforest, is all about these scrumptious treats! This book has everything you EVER wanted to know about chocolate. For instance, did you know that the Aztecs served a special drink made of chocolate-mixed with blood? Did you know that solid chocolate was created just 150 years ago? Did you know that hundreds of thousands of Africans were kidnapped, shipped to America, and forced to work as slaves making sugar? It took six whole days of a slave’s life to produce one teaspoon of sugar. These are only SOME of the incredible (and surprising) facts that you can learn by reading this book. I never knew that chocolate could be quite so fascinating! Riches from the Rainforest also talked about the history of chocolate. While reading it, I learned where chocolate comes from, who first found it, and who was the first to drink it.

; Even though this book has some pretty amazing facts in it, I wouldn’t recommend going out to the store and buying it. It is a great book to check out from the library. This book is a one-time read. I wouldn’t want to read this book over and over again like I do with many of my other books. However, this book on chocolate is a fun way to learn about your favorite treat! On a scale from 1-10, I would rate this book as a 6. It was a fun way to learn some astounding facts! (June, 2002)