The King’s Taster by Kenneth Oppel

• 11/18/2013
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The King’s Taster
Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins (2009)
ISBN 9780060753733
Reviewed by Cayden Aures (age 5) and Mom for Reader Views (8/09)

“The King’s Taster” is about a cook’s dog named Max whose job it is to taste all of the food before the king eats it to ensure that it isn’t poisoned.  However, a problem arises when they get a new king and he doesn’t like the cook’s food.  The cook does his best to ensure that the king will eat his food and even travels far to obtain new recipes, but will it be enough?

Cayden:
“I liked this book except for the part in the beginning when it said that the dog had to eat the food to make sure there was no poison in it for the king.  What if the dog would eat poison?  I didn’t like that, but I thought it was cool that he gets all of the leftovers and gets to lick the bowls.  That part of his job is good.

I liked when they went to try and find different food that they thought the king would like to eat.  My favorite was when they went in the hot air balloon to Mexico.  They sure went far to try to find good food for him!”

Parent’s comments:
“The King’s Taster” by Kenneth Oppel was a great book that my picky eater could relate to.  My son adored Max the dog for three reasons:  he loves dogs, his brother’s name is Max, and he thought the dog had a “cool” job (except for the poison part).  I loved the creative bios about the author and artists at the back of the book.  They are the most entertaining that I have read in some time!