Stanley’s Diner
Written and Illustrated by William Bee
Peachtree Publishers      8/01/2015
978-1-56145-802-8
32 pages     Age 3—6

“Stanley is cooking for some hungry customers. He is also baking a birthday cake—but who is it for? It’s another busy day for Stanley and friends . . .” [back cover]

Review
Young children will love Stanley’s Diner. Stanley cooks and his friend, Hattie, works in the front of the diner, while friends, Myrtle, Charlies, Gabriel, and Little Woo come in to eat. Stanley is in the back cooking eggs, tomatoes, and mushrooms when Myrtle arrives for breakfast. Stanley whips her up a plate of eggs with toast, and Hattie adds a cup of hot coffee, before serving it to the hungry Myrtle. Stanley sure looks happy using his 8-slice toaster. He smiles while watching the 8 pieces of bread pop up into the air when toasted just right.

After the lunch crowd—including Charlie and Gabriel, eating pancakes with syrup—leave for their own afternoon activities, Stanley slips out of the diner. Driving his blue pickup truck—matches the blue of the diner—Stanley makes a special trip to the market. The chef buys cocoa, flour, butter, sugar, and milk. Stanley is baking something special with those ingredients from the market. Now, what could Stanley be making, and for whom is he baking?

Each Stanley book has a basic color scheme. For Stanley’s Diner that color is light blue. Bee uses large, easy to recognize basic shapes to build his images, separating each shape with wide, black lines that not only draw your attention to the images, they also deepen the colors used by Bee . If asked, kids should be able to recognize the shapes, the primary colors, and the secondary colors used in the Stanley series of books. The digitally created images continue to smartly use white space, as Bee does in all previous Stanley books. This white space helps keep the eyes focused on the illustrations. I also love the clean presentation.

Young children will enjoy learning about the jobs Stanley takes on in this series. Along with being a chef in a diner, Stanley has built a house, run a garage, and grown food as a farmer. What other jobs Stanley might take on in the future is anyone’s guess. After reading Stanley’s Diner, young children will wonder what mom and dad cook in their own kitchen and what chef’s make in the restaurants they frequent.

Stanley’s Diner can help young children prepare for kindergarten, as they learn colors, shapes, and new words. Each story in the Stanley series stands on its own and highlights a different occupation. Stanley‘s Diner is a great choice for story-time. The illustrations, thanks to those black lines, are easy to see from a short distance. Hopefully, Stanley has more adventures on the way. Young children will be eagerly waiting to hear the news of a each new addition.

STANLEY’S DINER. Text and Illustrations copyright © 2014 by William Bee. Reproduce by permission of the publisher, Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta, GA.
***Originally published in 2014, titled Stanley’s Café, in Great Britain, by publisher, Jonathan Cape.

Purchase Stanley’s Diner at Amazon—Book Depository—IndieBound Books—Peachtree Publishers.

Learn more about Stanley’s Diner HERE.

Meet the author/illustrator, William Bee, at his\ website:  http://www.williambee.com/
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Find more books at the Peachtree Publishers website: http://peachtree-online.com/
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Also by William Bee

Stanley’s Garage reviewed HERE. Stanley the Builder reviewed HERE.

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Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Full Disclosure: Stanley’s Diner by William Bee, and received from Peachtree Publishers, is in exchange NOT for a positive review, but for an HONEST review. The opinions expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

STANLEY’S DINER. Text and illustrations © 2014 by William Bee. Used by permission of Peachtree Publishers.