Day 208: Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons

Sometimes when we're at the library and I don't have my list of "books-to-find," I turn to the shelves to find particular authors whose works we've enjoyed in the past.  Other times, my searches are more random, but last week, while I quickly perused the shelves for a few new books and my kids played with the puppets and trains, I employed the former strategy.  I was in the Q-R-S section, so looked to see what other stories Amy Krouse Rosenthal might have waiting for us.  We've enjoyed Duck! Rabbit! and Bedtime for Mommy, so I thought she might be a good bet.  When I saw a book called Cookies, I immediately took it off the shelf and added it to our pile.  We love baking cookies almost as much as we love reading, so I knew my kids would be excited to read it, too.

What a gem of a story!  Cookies: Bite Size Life Lessons explains the meaning of 21 different words -- some common, some new -- by defining them in terms of scenarios to which kids can easily relate.  The idea behind this adorable story is so creative and brilliant.  I just love it!  The illustrations are lovely, too.  Here are a few of my favorite examples from the book:

Cooperate means, How about you add the chips while I stir?

Modest means you don't run around telling everyone you make 

the best cookies, even if you know it to be true.

Trustworthy means, If you ask me to hold your cookie until you come back, 

when you come back, I will still be holding your cookie.

Open-minded means, I've never seen cookies like that before, but, uh, sure, I'll try one.  

Regret means, I really wish I didn't eat so many cookies.

Sweet, isn't it?

My kids are always asking me what words mean, and sometimes I struggle to define them in a way they can easily understand.  When this happens, I've found it is better and more meaningful to use the word in context rather than giving them a more traditional definition.  Cookies does just that, only far better and more creatively than I ever could.  It's sweet, clever, and a great way to teach children about some of life's most valuable qualities.  Combine reading this story with baking cookies of your own and you've got a perfectly fun-filled afternoon!

Enjoy!

Day 133: How to Make an Apple Pie and see the world

If you’ve been following this blog for a while now, you know how much I love books that teach me (and my kids) new things.  Combine that with a book that takes us around the world, includes a map, and uses some fabulous new vocabulary words, and it’s pretty much guaranteed I will love it.  My sister-in-law gave us this book for Christmas (thanks, Kate!), and it was love at first read.  Not only does it have all of the amazing qualities mentioned above, but it's also about one of my children's other favorite things: baking!  How To Make an Apple Pie and see the world is a wonderful book for preschoolers, but I will definitely read it to my seventh grade geography students some day, too.  It starts out with a girl reading a list of apple pie’s ingredients:  apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, butter, egg.  “Making an apple pie is really very easy.  First, get all the ingredients at the market.  Mix them well, bake, and serve.  Unless, of course, the market is closed.”  Then what?  Where do all of these yummy ingredients actually come from, anyway?  This fantastic story takes us on a journey to collect them all from various places around the world:  semolina wheat from Italy, a chicken and egg from France, cinnamon from the bark of Sri Lanka’s kurundu trees, milk from an English cow (“you’ll know she’s an English cow from her good manners and charming accent”), sea water and sugar cane from Jamaica, and apples from Vermont.  Once we’ve collected all the ingredients, we can easily make our pie, right?  Sure!  All we have to do now is “mill the wheat into flour, grind the kurundu bark into cinnamon, evaporate the sea water from the salt, boil the sugar cane, persuade the chicken to lay an egg, milk the cow, churn the milk into butter, slice the apples, mix the ingredients and bake the pie!”  Isn’t it wonderful?!  I love the way this story gets children thinking about where our food actually comes from, and how much we depend on other countries and people of the world every day.  We love tracing our route along the map in the book and remembering where we went to get what. Along the way, author Marjorie Price also teaches us some great new words, such as superb, acquaintance, elegant, and coax.  Be sure to check out the recipe at the end of the book, too.  Perhaps your little ones will even want to make their own pies after reading this great book!  While you may not be able to take them around the world to get the ingredients, talk about where different foods come from the next time you go to the store.  Take a look at the different items around your house that you use every day, too, while you’re at it.  Where were they made?  What countries do you depend on each day?  If your child loves baking, exploring, learning, dreaming, traveling, or even just reading a great new book, this one is bound to be a hit.