Cook's Cook: The Cook Who Cooked for Captain Cook

Author(s): Gavin Bishop

NZ Picture Books | Hardback Picture Books | History

Cook's Cook follows the 1768 journey of James Cook's H.M.S. Endeavour with his ship's cook, the one-handed John Thompson, as story teller. Through real recipes from the ship's galley, events on board and the places the ship travelled to on its way to the Pacific, the book tells multiple stories. Here are stories of social class, hierarchy and race; stories of explorers and the people of the land; the story of one of the world's most famous explorers told through a fresh new lens. This beautiful book is full of information drawn from extensive research alongside evocative illustrations, released to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour's journey.

Ruth's Review: This is the story of the one-armed cook who cooked for Captain Cook. Written in the form of cook John Thompson's diary, it marks the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour's three-year voyage, from 1768 - 1771, in the Southern Hemisphere and gives a fascinating and unusual perspective of life aboard ship. More than three years of research has gone into the story and it raises issues of class as well as colonialism but is also a work of Gavin Bishop's imagination. Packed with recipes (potentially) prepared for the 94 men aboard, you'll learn how to prepare shark steaks, stingray soup, and dog and breadfruit stew. Gavin Bishop, whose book Aotearoa is the 2018 Margaret Mahy Book of the Year, has created a visual treat with lots of detail to pore over. There are fascinating cutaways - and a map of the voyage forms the endpapers. Here's Gavin telling us little bit more about the process...


Product Information

Finalist in the 2019 NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults - Illustration Russell Clark Award

Bishop’s style captures much of the nuances of late eighteenth-century cartoon beautifully painted in sepia and blue watercolour schemes, skewed angle speech bubbles, along with recipes, facts and information in scrolled and rope frames. --Children’s Books Ireland (UK)

A feast of food, facts and history… --Lancashire Evening Post

Appealing illustrations and the lure of an insider’s account make this a delectable adventure. --Kirkus Reviews (US)

General Fields

  • : 9781776572045
  • : Gecko Press
  • : Gecko Press
  • : 0.521631
  • : October 2018
  • : ---length:- '9.67'width:- '11.67'units:- Inches
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Gavin Bishop
  • : Hardback
  • : 1902
  • : Gavin Bishop
  • : English
  • : 910.41
  • : 40