Mud Pies and Other Recipes

Mud Pies and Other Recipes

Marjorie Winslow

illustrated by Erik Blegvad 2010

I've noticed that left to their own devices, kids will start making mud pies or "cooking" with whatever can be found in the yard- leaves, sticks, dirt.  I find Charlotte's concoctions on the patio or in the tree house.  Sometimes the neighbor kids come over and there's pots of leaf stew with spoons sticking out or sandy casseroles.  Madeleine and Henry used to do this too.  I remember acorns were a particularly favorite ingredient in their dishes.  (And Madeleine just reminded me that onion grass was a staple.)


This absolutely adorable book is written with that child chef in mind. It's dedicated to "Susan and Kate, former doll chefs, who knew better than to taste for seasoning and, therefore, grew up."

It opens with:

This is a cookbook for dolls. It is written for kind climates and summertime.
It is an outdoor cookbook, because dolls dote on mud, when properly prepared. They love the crunch of pine needles and the sweet feel of seaweed on the tongue. The market place, then, will be a forest or sand dune or your own back yard.

The recipes include things like "Pencil Sharpener Pudding", "Pine Needle Upside-Down Cake", "Bark Sandwich", "Roast Rocks", and "Dandelion Souffle".

Erik Blegvad does the drawings. And though children's imaginations certainly don't need the intervention of this book, it's still fun to read and full of cute ideas.

Charlotte's "tea"

Other books illustrated by Erik Blegvad:

Moon-Watch Summer

The Dirty Old Man

Anna Banana and Me

Little Pea

I'm so happy my two big kids still like to jump in bed and listen to me read picture books.  The other night both Madeleine and Henry grabbed their favorites and then squabbled over who got to be next to mom (though it does make me feel very loved, you wouldn't believe the wrestling fights three kids can have over snuggle positions!)

Since Henry's birthday is on the horizon, we read his book first.  This book cracks us up because Henry is our picky eater and getting vegetables in him is like a military mission.  Also, Little Pea is just so darn cute!

Little Pea

Amy Krouse Rosenthal

illustrated by Jen Corace 2005

The drawings are adorable and the story is funny. To grow big and strong, peas have to eat candy but Little Pea hates candy. His parents tell him that if he wants to have his yummy desert he has to eat 5 pieces of candy (which he does, though not happily). Can you guess what his dessert is?

The Seaside Naturalist

We had our last summertime hurrah at the beach this weekend.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  At the beginning of the summer we added these books to our 'nature kit' (our bag with notebooks, specimen jars, magnifying glass, binoculars, etc...).  They've been helpful in identifying the creatures and shells that we find on the beach and are nice to read when we're relaxing under the umbrella.

The Seaside Naturalist: A Guide to Study at the Seashore

Deborah A. Coulombe 1990

This book is designed specifically for teaching kids about the ecosystem in the ocean and along the shore. Each chapter has a True/False quiz at the end that we like to read out loud. This weekend we learned about Protoplankton and Nekton!

A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore

Kenneth L. Gosner 1999

Our old shell identification book included shells around the world and wasn't very helpful in identifying things that were specific to the New Jersey coastline. This Peterson Field Guide has been awesome. There are pages of colorful pictures and specific, scientific information. We've identified types of crabs, mini shrimp, and knotted wrack (a seaweed) that we've found along the beach and in the water. 

How the Sun Was Brought Back to the Sky

School has started, but it doesn't feel like crisp Autumn.  Instead we've been having the worst humid, hot sticky, sunless days.  With all this grey, Charlotte suggested maybe the sun was sick. 

So I had to pull out this book to read.  We always think Jose Aruego's sun is the cutest thing.  I also love that it's "adapted from a Slovenian folk tale."  (Love those folk tales!)

How the Sun Was Brought Back to the Sky

Mirra Ginsburg

pictures by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey

 

When the sun doesn't appear for three whole days, the little chicks get worried.  "It was cold and sad without sunshine".  So they go to find the sun and bring him back to the sky, meeting and bringing along other animals on the way.

 

 

 

Other books illustrated by Jose Aruego:

Look What I Can Do

Moon-Watch Summer

Thinking of Neil Armstrong...

Moon-Watch Summer

Lenore Blegvad

illustrated by Erik Blegvad 1972

We seem to like the books by Lenore Blegvad. This easy reader (with nice, unpretentious drawings) tells the story of a boy and his sister who are sent to live with their grandmother in the country for the summer. The grandmother's country house is a dream (at least to me!). It's surrounded by beautiful mountains, a big garden, a creek, and her old horse in the pasture. But it's the summer of 1969, Apollo 11, and all the boy, Adam, cares about is following the astronauts on the radio and watching the moon landing. He resents that his grandmother doesn't have a tv and her rural way of life. But within a few days, he learns to see the value of the country, the slower pace, and the natural world around him. When circumstances force him to care for his younger sister one night, he forms a tender bond with her and begins to understand the beauty in the way his grandmother lives.

That very morning the whole family had watched the televised beginning of another journey- one that Adam had waited a long, long time to see:  the roaring, fiery blast-off of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, on its way to land the first men on the moon.

Sometime later Adam turned off his radio, and the farmhouse was quiet.  Outside in the sloping fields crickets chirped.  He could hear frogs calling from the damp grasses along the edge of the brook below.  With the touch of cool air from the pine woods on his face, Adam lay under his quilt and thought about the astronauts.  Enclosed in their capsule, they were also at rest for the night, moving farther and farther away from him at every moment.

Also by Lenore Blegvad:

Anna Banana 

And It Was So

Tasha Tudor is one of those author/artists whose books I snatch up wherever I see them. If you're going to start a children's book collection, she is the premier author/artist to collect. This was our very first book of hers- it was mine from childhood.

And It Was So

Tasha Tudor

In it is the story of creation, some words from the Psalms and Ecclesiastes and highlights from Jesus. I loved the pictures as a child and they left such an impression on me that I can still see them in my mind when I hear some of the verses. It was one of my very favorite books growing up, and one of the few that survived through the years to sit on my own childrens' bookshelf.

One of my favorite pictures, this is what I wanted to look like when I grew up and became a mother.

Growltiger's Last Stand

One thing I love about camping in Ithaca is going downtown to visit the town.  Ithaca has a really neat center called "Ithaca Commons".  It's an area with shops and restaurants, art sculptures and even a little playground.  Often there are street musicians playing music and always interesting people to look at.  There's a fantastic toy store that we like to stop in.  This year Henry bought a board game that we brought back to camp and played at the picnic table. 

Another regular stop is the used bookstore (of course!!)  The children's section isn't too bad and we always manage to bring a bag home with us.  The best part is coming back to camp and sitting around the fire reading our new acquisitions. 

Growltiger's Last Stand and Other Poems

T.S. Eliot

pictures by Errol Le Cain 1988

This was one such find. We read this late at night in the tent, Madeleine on one side and Charlotte on the other (Henry and Chris were playing cards). Madeleine and I got a case of the 'giddies' and thought the poems and pictures were particularly hilarious.