Kirkus calls NIGHT CHEF by Mika Song “a deeply satisfying adventure for readers young and old” in its second starred review

★NIGHT CHEF: An Epic Tale of Friendship With a Side of Deliciousness!
By Mika Song
Publisher: Random House Graphic

An industrious raccoon helps wherever she’s needed.

Living in a restaurant, where she cooks creatively and continuously after hours, the pointy-faced Night Chef savors what she can of her life, but hers is a solitary existence. When she unexpectedly becomes caretaker for a baby crow, she decides to find the hatchling’s family. While searching, she lands at a tiny riverside diner run by a mole, staffed by frogs, and patronized by a panoply of animals. Thrilled to discover this small community, she dives right into helping prepare meals. Unfortunately, the restaurant is being terrorized by a frenzied owl, whose attacks threaten to shut down the whole cozy, companionable operation. Night Chef continues her journey to find the young crow’s family, stopping at an empty diner to whip up a meal for a group of hungry fellow raccoons and leaping aboard a train car filled with barking dogs, but she soon returns to defend her newfound culinary home against their owl attacker by drawing on community connections, culinary skills, and a healthy heap of bravery. Song’s lighthearted, expressive character studies and simple, specific scenery, rendered with textural ink-and-watercolor artwork, blend into a true visual treat. Intimately realized scenes of kitchen life envelop readers; Song’s imaginative specificity revels in small moments of plating and serving, cleaning and closing, as well as the rich rewards of working as a team.

A deeply satisfying adventure for readers young and old.

(frittata recipe) (Graphic animal fantasy. 6-10)

- Kirkus Reviews