Maya & Filippo Play Chef at Sea


Children - Picture Book
26 Pages
Reviewed on 12/12/2013
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Alinka Rutkowska is a “Reader’s Favorite” Five Star Picture Book Author. She writes the “Maya & Filippo” Book Series for Children – travel books for kids with a positive attitude. She takes inspiration from her own travels while cruising with her husband and daughter around the world. She is positive, appreciative and happy 95% of the time and during the miserable 5% she thinks to herself quickly: “things always work out for me” and they do.
Alinka’s doesn’t really have a “to do” list but she does have a “fun things to do” list. It usually consists of writing, reading, reading her writing, writing in her diary, blogging, reading other blogs, commenting, breathing deeply, meditating, feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin, closing her eyes, breathing some more and thinking what a wonderful world she lives in.
Sometimes she takes a few minutes to pause and instead of doing something from her “fun things to do” list she just daydreams a little. She thinks of all the great things that she wants for her to happen and imagines how wonderful it will feel to be interviewed about them in the future. She’s already preparing the answers to those interview questions in her mind. She especially loves the part, in which she says that she achieved all these things because she spent a considerable amount of time visualizing them first.
Alinka loves to ski while listening to music at the same time, she enjoys an occasional glass (or bottle) of Barolo with dark chocolate.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Patricia Reding for Readers' Favorite

From the front cover to the last page, children will delight in the almost childlike and always colorful and quirky illustrations that accompany Maya & Filippo Play Chef at Sea by Alinka Rutkowska. This tale is another in the series of Maya & Filippo, stories that tell of siblings who live on a beautiful cruise ship with their parents and their cat, Otello. On board, Maya and Filippo travel the world, discovering new places and “how things work.”

In Maya & Filippo Play Chef at Sea, Maya and Filippo, while crossing the Tasman Sea, decide to join the ship’s chef and a group of other children to make cakes. The fun begins as they crack eggs, pour milk, sift flour, and add their own special ingredients. The point of the exercise, Maya points out to another of the traveling children, is to have fun and to try something new. Along the way, Maya and Filippo learn that when they cooperate and communicate with one another, they may both accomplish all they desire, rather than only half.

The story of Maya and Filippo will excite the imagination of children who might wonder what it would be like to live at sea. Alinka Rutkowska takes children on just such a journey, providing them with some basic geographic information (about where lies the Tasman Sea), some good advice about working in a kitchen (wash your hands first!) and a valuable lesson about cooperation and communication.

Joy Hannabass

Maya and Filippo are traveling the world with their family on a cruse ship called "Fun Princess" and this time they will be entertaining on board as they become Junior Chefs at sea. The siblings will be making a cake, along with others their age. While fulfilling their duties as Junior Chef, Maya and Filippo and the gang learned several valuable lessons that will not only help them as cooks,but throughout life. This pair had the opportunity to learn about communicating and sharing as well as learning the importance of making the right choices. Will Maya and Filippo make the right choices? Will other boys and girls in their class show how to share while working together?

Maya and Filippo Play Chef at Sea is another adorable book by Alinka Rutkowska with the characters Maya and Filippo and their family. I enjoyed reading more from this author, and in this book it was fun to read about the kids trying their baking skills and making their own cake. The sweet story is well written and will make any child feel loved and accepted. And I love the unique and adorable illustrations throughout the book. I always enjoy illustrations that tell their own story, and those in this book tell their own story so well! The colors are pleasant to the eye and the overall story and book will surely make a hit on the shelves of many bookstores. I highly recommend Maya and Filippo by Alinka Rutkowska and I really think your child will love it as much as I do!

Katelyn Hensel

Maya and Filippo are a pair of jet-setting kids who travel the world with their parents and their cat, Otello. They live on a massive ship, which you think would get boring, but not for Maya and Filippo! These kids know how to get their hands dirty, in the kitchen that is. They learn how to bake cakes, and all sorts of other treats.

One great thing about the Maya and Filippo books is that each story is fun, but there are some quickly slipped in lessons so that your own children are learning right along with the kids too. Kitchen safety, healthy snacking, washing your hands, and sharing are all very important lessons that can be taken from this book and applied to your own real life cooking with kids experience. Next time you try to bake, have the kids help out like Maya and Filippo.

I loved Maya and Filippo's first adventure, so I was thrilled to find another book in the series and I snapped it up right away. The concept of having children travel the world is by no means unique, yet Alinka Rutkowska writes with such heart and joy that Maya and Filippo's adventures make them stand out from the crowd and really excel at what counts, entertaining children. The cute pictures, paired with a fun and interesting story, is sure to delight kids and encourage traveling. What a way to get out of your own town and explore the world. A very fun book indeed.

Melinda Hills

In another colorful pop-up children’s book, Maya and Filippo Play Chef at Sea, Alinka Rutkowska demonstrates how children can have fun while she teaches a valuable lesson. Sister and brother, Maya and Filippo, live on a cruise ship that is now traveling from Auckland to Hobart. During the day, the ship’s pastry chef occupies the children with an opportunity to experiment and bake cakes using a variety of ingredients. Maya shares her wisdom with another child who isn’t interested in the process at first, but he soon discovers that the journey is part of the overall goal – his efforts at baking the cake enhance his reaction to the finished product. Maya and Filippo also learn the importance of communication and sharing when they are forced to split an orange, only to discover that Maya simply wanted the peel for her recipe while Filippo wanted to eat the fruit.

Numerous unspoken lessons that children can assimilate without direct instruction are presented in Maya and Filippo Play Chef at Sea. Experience is the best teacher and Maya and Filippo share their experiences with the reader so that the lessons they learn are simultaneously transmitted. With only limited input from adults, Maya and her brother, Filippo, are free to work out solutions to their issues and children can easily relate to their interactions. Just as with her other stories, Alinka Rutkowska has created a tale that will appeal to children, teaches about choices, and encourages communication and sharing. With whimsical illustrations by Konrad Checinski, Maya and Filippo Play Chef at Sea is a great opportunity to share precious time with a child and provide a subtle message as well.