About the Holiday

Do you have a favorite family story to tell or tradition to share? Then this month is for you! No matter if your stories are funny or poignant tales of a family member or they’re tied to a special recipe or heirloom, everyone—especially children—benefits by these reminiscences. Family Stories Month encourages people to gather together and engage in the tradition of oral storytelling, which has been part of people’s lives and cultures since ancient times. It’s a wonderful way to stay connected to your own family heritage and build bonds that last forever. 

Thank you to HarperCollins and Barbara Fisch at BlueSlip Media for sharing a copy of Still there was Bread with me for review consideration. All opinions on the book are my own.

Still there was Bread

Written by Lisl H. Detlefsen | Illustrated by David Soman

Nana comes to visit her daughter’s family and to teach her grandson—her “Little Pickle”—how to bake the family’s traditional pull-apart “Nana rolls.” Nana and Little Pickle gather the ingredients and turn on the oven while Nana talks about how “her nana had to collect eggs from the chicken coop and milk a cow to get what she needed” and stoke a woodburning stove to bake the rolls.

Nana and Little Pickle move on to combining the ingredients and easily mixing the dough in a stand mixer, a modern contrast to the child narrator’s great-great-grandmother using a wooden spoon. They knead the dough and put it in a bowl to rise in a sunny spot—no different from how it was done all those years ago.

Image copyright David Soman, 2024, text copyright Lisl H. Detlefsen, 2024. Courtesy of HarperCollins.

While they wait for the dough to rise, Little Pickle asks Nana to tell stories about the rolls they’re making, and she readily reveals how important their homemade bread was through lean times—like during the Great Depression, when “Nana’s mama was a girl and her family had so little money that she owned just one dress and no shoes. But still there was bread, thanks to the chickens and cows on their farm.” Or when Nana, herself, was a baby and “the whole house was quarantined because she and her daddy had something called polio,” but eggs and milk were delivered. This leads Nana to connect it to a recent quarantine, when people rediscovered the comforts of homemade bread.

Image copyright David Soman, 2024, text copyright Lisl H. Detlefsen, 2024. Courtesy of HarperCollins.

During the second rise of the dough, Nana and Little Pickle talk about the different kinds of bread people make with the “same simple ingredients” for “times they can be together, and times they can’t.” At last the dough is ready to pinch off and shape and put in pans. One more rising allows Nana to tell stories of how she baked bread for Little Pickle’s mom and aunt, and how she “‘paid a pretty penny'” to mail bread to a homesick cousin who was far away. 

Image copyright David Soman, 2024, text copyright Lisl H. Detlefsen, 2024. Courtesy of HarperCollins.

Little Pickle asks Nana how many times she’s made the rolls, and she replies, “‘Who could say?'” She’s made them for sick neighbors and as gifts for a whole list of occasions. “‘All of them were kneaded. And needed,” she says. The rolls are finally ready to pop into the oven, and as they bake, their “toasty smell brings the rest of the family to the kitchen.” When the rolls are ready, everyone gathers around and “the kitchen becomes a blur of butter and honey and jam and laughter.” Little Pickle is happy and satisfied knowing that years from now “I will share our recipe and the stories that go with it with my kids or grandkids,” but for now whenever someone “needs a warm, fresh-baked hug, I’ll know just what to do.”

Image copyright David Soman, 2024, text copyright Lisl H. Detlefsen, 2024. Courtesy of HarperCollins.

Filled with warmth, family love, and connectedness, Lisl H. Detlefsen’s Still there was Bread, is a heartening read aloud that will foster a child’s curiosity about the past as well as their own family history and long-held traditions while also being grounded in today. Deftly combining lyrical storytelling with the young narrator’s voice, Detlefsen has created a tale that appeals across generations. The rhythm and easy cadence of the text is as comforting as the homemade rolls depicted. 

David Soman’s pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations shine for their realistic portrayals of home, the baking process, and especially the expressive faces and shared looks between family members, from Nana and Little Pickle to their ancestors. Soman’s soft textures and glowing lighting bring to life Nana’s stories about her grandmother, the Great Depression, and Nana’s early life. His use of vignettes coupled with full-page illustrations creates a rich tapestry from page to page, not unlike a family photo album. The final image of the family gathered around the dinner table, with Little Pickle, roll in hand and looking out from the page invites readers to join in on the “warm, fresh-baked hug” offered here. 

Still there was Bread would be a welcome addition to family gatherings, especially at holidays and family reunions, and is highly recommended for home, public library, and school library bookshelves.

Ages 4 – 8+

HarperCollins, 2024 | ISBN 978-0063216556

About the Author

Lisl H. Detlefsen is the author of a growing number of picture books, including Farm Boots, illustrated by Renée Kurilla, and At the End of the Day, illustrated by Lynnor Bontigao. She lives with her husband and two sons in a restored farmhouse on a family-owned cranberry marsh in Wisconsin. You can visit her online at lislhdbooks.com.

About the Illustrator

David Soman has illustrated many beautiful picture books, including The Impossible Mountain and the New York Times bestselling Ladybug Girl series, which he cocreated with his wife, Jacky Davis. He is an instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and lives with his family in Upstate New York. Visit him at davidsoman.com.

Family Stories Month Activities

Family Story Starters

Getting together with family and/or friends over the holidays, for regular visits, or for other events? Have fun and get to know each other better with these story starters that can lead to fascinating memories and discoveries that build bonds. Use these Family Story Starters to prompt conversations or even play charades. Just print, cut, and place in a bowl or basket then have family members or friends randomly choose among them to get the fun going!

Connect with Others through Family Stories on StoryCorps

StoryCorps was established on the idea that everyone has an important story to tell and that listening to others’ stories helps us “believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all.” Since their founding in 2003, nearly 700,000 people across the country have recorded short recollections about their lives. Each story is accompanied by animation that helps listeners, and children especially, visualize the narrative. The stories are accessible on the StoryCorps website and in the U.S. Library of Congress. The StoryCorp online archive is “now the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered.”

A perfect way to celebrate Family Stories Month, to share our common bonds, and to introduce children to the wonders of storytelling, listen to some of the incredible stories on StoryCorps. You can also get involved in the project by recording your own family stories! Visit StoryCorps to learn more. 

You can purchase Still there was Bread at these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop (to support your local independent bookstore)

Picture Book Review