Foodie Babies Wear Bibs on Foodie Friday

Today's Foodie Friday pick is for the babies in the house! Toddlers too. Come to think of it, it's a pretty good gift for foodie parents and parents-to-be as well. It is part of the Urban Babies Wear Black series of board books written by Michelle Sinclair Colman and illustrated with hip, retro-inspired flair by Nathalie Dion. On each page, babies are featured in foodie pursuits such as enjoying finger foods and small plates, dining al fresco and and touring farmer's markets. Of course the farmer's market trip is undertaken in a backpack carrier and the al fresco dining is done in a stroller. This book is bound to appeal to babies and toddlers because other babies and toddlers are their own movie stars. Push any newly speaking baby through the mall and he or she will excitedly point and shout "Baby!Baby!" every time one passes in the same way I would shout "Brad Pitt!" if I saw him strolling through the mall. So it's a given that Foodie Babies Wear Bibs will appeal to babies for the subject of the illustrations and to grownups for their style. I particularly like the page where we learn that foodie babies know their way around the kitchen, and the baby is sitting in the cabinet of a gorgeously decorated kitchen playing with pots and pans.

Any one of the books in this series would pair nicely with a baby shower gift. This one would be lovely, of course, with bottles, sippy cups, baby utensils, a high chair and so on. Winter Babies Wear Layers would wrap up nicely with a snowsuit or hat. Eco Babies Wear Green is begging to be gifted with onesies made from recycled or sustainable fabric. You get the idea.

Hee Hee- Thanksgiving Version

What sound do turkeys make in outer space?

hubble, hubble, hubble

What did the widow turkey say to her naughty son?

If your father could see you, he'd turn over in his gravy!

What do you get if you cross a turkey with a bottle of glue?

Gobbledy-gook!

Why did the turkey stuffing go on strike?

It wanted a higher celery!

The last two jokes came from Turkey Riddles, an easy reader from Puffin Books by Katy Hall and Lisa Eisenberg. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Thanksgiving Visitor

If you read just one story this Thanksgiving, it should be Truman Capote's "The Thanksgiving Visitor." No, you won't learn much about the Pilgrims, the Indians, or how to bake a pumpkin pie, but you will be moved by the writing and events in this poignant tale. Perhaps you are familiar with Capote's "A Christmas Memory" and its protagonists, the young Buddy and his eccentric, elderly best friend and aunt Miss Sook. They are the center of this story as well. Buddy narrates, and with wonderful Southern turns of phrase describes their Thanksgiving preparations. He also describes the bullying he receives at the hands of Odd Henderson for being a sissy. It is almost unimaginable that Miss Sook invites Odd to Thanksgiving dinner. The conflict and disappointment that unfold are powerful. Miss Sook counsels Buddy that Odd "... can't help acting ugly; he doesn't know any different." Often at Thanksgiving, we focus on gratitude.This Thanksgiving tale also gets readers thinking about compassion and graciousness. It's a provocative and well written holiday read for children from eight up, especially if you can find the picture book illustrated with wistful paintings by Beth Peck.

Some Thoughts on Art Appreciation

On Friday, I took my children to visit the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. As soup was the feature of Foodie Friday, I couldn't resist taking the photo (no flash of course) you see here of them admiring Andy Warhol's cans of soup. My favorite moment in the museum was when they spotted a Jackson Pollack painting and shouted, "It's the painting from Olivia!" Of all the amusing things that happen in all of Ian Falconer's Olivia books, our favorite is when she recreates a Jackson Pollack painting on her wall at home. We all enjoyed the Van Gogh exhibit. How can you not feel good standing in front of that starry night? My daughter lectured us all about Van Gogh's application of paint and choice of subject. Clearly the art program at our local public school is excellent!What fascinated me was that all three kids seemed physically drawn to Jasper Johns' Map. It is an eye catching work, but I'm curious as to what exactly is so attractive about it to my children. Maybe it's that they recognize the subject matter, a map of the United States. Maybe it is the use of bright. primary colors. Who knows? Unbeknownst to them, I recently checked out Bob Raczka's gorgeous picture book The Art of Freedom: How Artists See America and had it in my car. Once home from Manhattan, we looked at the book. They were so excited to see Map on the cover and recognize it from our museum visit. I had gotten the book because of what it says about America in simple text, statements such as "America is sacrifice," "America is immigrants," "America is native peoples," and "America is a work in progress." Each statement is accompanied by a piece of artwork. That last definition, for example, faces Gilbert Stuart's famous unfinished portrait of George Washington. My original intention was to read the book and discuss it with my kids in light of the recent presidential election. It turned out to be a nice book to read after a trip to a museum as well. It is beautiful and would make a great gift for a child or a teacher of art or American history.

Speaking of gifts, my sister was a godsend that day, helping me entertain, feed, and herd three kids around the Big Apple! Thanks, Corinne!

Stone Soup's On for Foodie Friday

Tuesday night was Soup Night at my house. With the price of groceries going up and the temperature and my prep time going down, soup is a quick, healthy, and affordable option for dinner. I wish I could tell you I made one of our favorite soup recipes like Brazilian Black Bean or Grandpa and Linda's Kale Soup from scratch. Unfortunately, between homework and ice hockey practice, we only had time for the canned variety served with crackers. But it was warm and filling and inspired some great table conversation. We talked about soup kitchens and why they are called soup kitchens when they serve foods other than soup. The kids had me tell them yet again about a time back in the early 1990's when I peeled eight dozen hard boiled eggs to be turned into deviled eggs at a soup kitchen. I thought my fingertips and my taste for hard boiled eggs would never recover.

All three children reminisced about cooking Stone Soup in their preschool. After reading the story, the teachers had each child bring in a vegetable to add to a soup they started early in the morning. I was fortunate to be able to come in as a volunteer helping the children chop those vegetables. Cutting carrots with a plastic knife is no easy task I assure you. Each year parents (present company included) expressed shock when their picky eaters tried the soup.

I told the kids that my mom remembers when my brother read Marcia Brown's Stone Soup back in his elementary school days and then cooked soup. Since they think I'm pretty ancient and he's my older brother, they are convinced that kids have been reading Stone Soup for a loooong time. In fact, this 1947 Caldecott winner is based on an even older French tale of three soldiers who outwit a village into providing them with the makings of a feast. The picture book is a funny, clever, great read on Soup Night.

The Big Book of Girl Stuff

My daughter has owned The Daring Book for Girls for about a year now. She occasionally uses it as a reference when playing games or making crafts and has nice things to say about it. It has a lot of stuff for girls in it. That is why I almost didn't check The Big Book of Girl Stuff, written by Bart King and his five sisters, out of the library for her. Luckily, I did. This book proves what we all know: everything is better with humor. There are as many funny one-liners in here as there are tips and trivia. The result is that my eight year old is reading it from cover to cover. The cover is, by the way, reversible to a pink marble notebook look so girls can read it surreptitiously in school.

There is so much interesting information and humor in The Big Book of Girl Stuff that my daughter is reading sections that might not usually be of interest to her because she doesn't want to miss out on the laughs. While I cannot figure out a rhyme or reason to the organization of the sections, they all have good information and liveliness in common. A few of these sections are "Babysitting," "Fun Stuff to Do," "Sports," and "Slang." Proof that the book never takes itself too seriously is in the quotes which open each section, such as Gilda Radner's "I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn't itch" at the beginning of the section on fashion. Of course there is gross out humor in the "Ick" section which is good. That should not be reserved only for books marketed to boys.

On a personal note, there are two more things that made me happy I checked this book out for Hayden. First, she recently stopped reading and excitedly ran to ask me,"Do you know the meaning of the word blogging? Do you want to know?" I did know, but pretended I didn't as I was so touched that she was enthusiastic to share something from her book that she thought would interest me. I also like the fact that there is a section on nicknames because the author is not the only person who likes trivia. One of the best bits floating around in my brain is that there was once a Viking warrior nicknamed "Ivan the Boneless." This book gave me the reason to share that with my daughter and now you.

I can't say enough good about this fun book for tween girls. It really is, as I learned from the section on slang, a "sherbitt."

Ignore the Couch

Even though I do not love the couch in my basement and fear you will look closely and see popcorn and crumbs peeking out from under the cushions, I need to share this most beautiful of photos I took this morning. My two older children so love the books they are currently reading (Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for him and Bart King's The Big Book of Girl Stuff for her) that they abandoned their usual post-breakfast pre-schoolbus bickering, SpongeBob watching, and more bickering to lie on the couch reading for the half hour after breakfast. I could break into the song from Oklahoma, "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," but my singing voice is even scarier than the pattern on the couch.