A Notes from the Windowsill annotated bibliography by Wendy E. Betts. Copyright 2005, 2006
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Last Updated 11/07/06
Based on recipes from Laura Ingalls Wilder's scrapbook, this is an
unusually serious "children's" cookbook: no kid recipes here, but real
dishes like Irish stew and pork pie with sweet potato. (As you might
expect, apples recipes are also heavily featured.) Fortunately a
clean, easy-to-follow design makes the recipes seem inspiring rather
than intimidating; only true beginners will need much help following
them. Accompanying commentary provides some historical background
about Ingall's life and times, illustrated by recent color photographs
of items from her various homesites. This is an excellent
introduction to hearty, downhome cooking, with as much appeal to
adults as to children. (10 & up)
Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes illustrated by Quentin Blake. Viking,
1994 (0-670-85836-6) $15.99; Puffin, 1997 (0-14-037820-0) $6.99 pb
You don't have to be a Roald Dahl fan to be enchanted by this
innovative cookbook, a collection of recipes based on foods described
in Dahl's books. Including tasty versions of "Fresh Mudburgers,"
"Stink Bugs' Eggs" and an "Enormous Crocodile" centerpiece, these
dishes manage to be both visually true to the stories and quite
edible. Blake's slyly funny illustrations are combined with
photographs of the finished dishes for a hilarious (as well as
practical) effect. Unfortunately, the recipes are not really designed
for young cooks, so adult assistance will almost certainly be
necessary. (7 & up)
Inside the Secret Garden: a Treasury of Crafts, Recipes, and
Activities by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson.
Illustrated by Mary Collier. HarperCollins, 2002 (0-06-027922-2)
$24.99
There's something counter-intuitive about an activity book based on
The Secret Garden; as even this book's authors acknowledge,
Frances Hodgson Burnett's characters were really too busy actually
gardening to care much about pressing flowers or making windchimes.
Still, enthusiastic readers will enjoy this chance to understand the
everyday lives of the characters somewhat better, by eating what they
ate and seeing some of what they saw. Besides recipes and crafts, the
attractively designed book includes a short biography of Burnett, a
time line of her life shown in context with historical events,
descriptions of typical places, and a glossary of unfamiliar words
used in the story.
The World of Little House by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss
Eriksson. Illustrated by Deborah Maze and Garth Williams.
HarperCollins, 1996 (0-06-024422-4) $24.95
For readers who love the "Little House" series, this book offers an
opportunity for thorough immersion in Laura's world. Each chapter
looks at a particular book in the series, with maps and furnished
floor plans of the Ingalls's homes, background information about
details of daily life, and craft projects that recreate items from the
stories: readers can make their own molasses-on-snow candy and name
cards. There is also a family tree, which includes many photographs,
and a timeline showing the historical events that happened at the same
time as events in the life of Laura's family. The final chapter lists
resources for readers who want to visit the "little house" sites. (6
& up)
Also available: The Little Women Treasury by Carolyn Strom Collins
and Christina Wyss Eriksson. Viking, 1996 (0-670-86337-8) $24.95
The Narnia Cookbook by Douglas Gresham. Illustrated by Pauline
Baynes. HarperCollins, 1998 (0-06-027815-3) $15.95
The high point of this collection of "Narnia recipes" is not the
recipes themselves, but the commentary by Gresham, one of C.S. Lewis'
stepsons. A boy himself when the Narnia books were written, Gresham
is familiar with dishes like gooseberry fool and steamed pudding,
dishes that American children today may never have encountered and
might find hard to envision. (What American child wasn't terribly
disappointed when she found out what Turkish Delight is really like?)
But more importantly, Gresham has an intimate knowledge of the Narnia
books and their creator that lets him write, with total conviction,
about what Narnia is like. His commentary is almost entirely free
from coyness or a sense that he's "playing with the children" by
pretending Narnia is real; obviously for him, as well as for legions
of fans, Narnia is real in all the ways that matter.
I suspect this wasn't really intended as a cookbook for children: the
design isn't child-friendly and many of the dishes are complicated and
require special, hard-to-find ingredients. But I can't imagine a fan
who wouldn't enjoy reading it, and perhaps trying a hand at the
sherbet Shasta drank in The Horse and His Boy or the toffee that grew
into a toffee tree in The Magician's Nephew.
Full color versions of many of Bayne's original illustrations are an
attractive accent (8 & up)
Books on the Move by Susan M. Knorr and Margaret Knorr. Free Spirit,
1993 (0-915793-53-9) $13.95 trade pb
What a wonderful idea for a book: a family travel guide to the United
States based on children's literature. Divided by themes such as
"Science and Nature," "Stepping into the Past" and "Celebrating Our
Diversity," each section lists both books and destinations for
numerous different types of exploration and discovery. The books
listed are well chosen and nicely diverse: "Adventures in Art," for
example, has picture books by Tomie dePaola, nonfiction about art
appreciation and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E.
Frankweiler,
a story about two runaways who hide out in New York's Metropolitan
Museum of Art. (I'm also glad they chose to include out-of-print
books, remembering that such things as libraries exist!) The
destinations, divided by state, are of all sorts of child-friendly
places like Caddie Woodlawn Memorial Park in Wisconsin, an
International Pancake Race in Kansas and the Vaillancourt Fountain in
San Francisco. (The recognition of the enjoyment value of this highly
underrated fountain alone would've earned this book a star from me.)
Both book and destination listings are annotated with basic
information and a short description; these seem to be reliable and
informative. There are three useful indexes: Subject, Author-Title,
and Destinations by State. All fifty states and Washington D.C. are
represented, though some with only a few destinations.
Don't expect to use this book as a complete vacation planning guide,
but it's a terrific way to get ideas of places to go, things to do and
books to read about them. Teachers may also find it a very useful
sourcebook for units on geography, transportation, cultures or
history. *
Searching for Laura Ingalls: a Reader's Journey by Kathryn Lasky and
Meribah Knight. Illustrated by Christopher G. Knight. Macmillan,
1993 (0-02-751666-0) $15.95
The urge to see places that have become real to us through literature
is a feeling most readers know. This unusual picture book describes
and photo-illustrates one girl's literary pilgrimage to the many
homesites of her favorite heroine, Laura Ingalls. Written by the
girl, Meribah, and her mother, with photographs taken by her father,
it is a vivid, on-the-spot portrait of what it feels like to try and
recapture the past, with some poignant disappointments as well as
moments of excitement. As both a description of Meribah's experience
and a chance for the reader to see the sights along with her, it will
have a strong appeal for other fans of the "Little House" books,
although the overall mood is, perhaps inevitably, rather sad. (5
& up)
Storybook Favorites in Cross-Stitch by Gillian Souter. dutton, 1996 (0-525-45613-9)
Favorite picture book characters such as Madeleine, Babr,
Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington can make wonderful decorations on
pillowcases, place mats, birth annoucements and numerous other items
with the help of this book. Each project includes a cross-stitch
design and color chart; ann introductory chapter explains the basic
techniques. I know absolutely nothing about this craft, but the
instructions seem straightforward and thorough. The instructions for
the individual projects, on the other hand, are rather terse and may
confused beginners. This book will probably be most useful to those
already quite experienced with handicrafts, particularly sewing.
Mary Poppins in the Kitchen by P.L. Travers. Illustrated by
Mary Shepard. 1975; Harcourt, 2006 (0-15-207080-4) $14.00
This book is in two parts, a section of stories about Mary Poppins and
her charges cooking and a collection of recipes, and it says something
that the recipes are slightly more interesting than the stories. Each
vignette follows the same pattern: the children are reuinted with one
of the
odder characters from the Mary Poppins books, who's come to help with
the cooking, and mild hijinks briefly ensue;
the effect is a bit like that of a television clip show, and only
readers who are already very fond of the series will be much
entertained.
But the cookbook section is fun, if you like that sort of thing (I
do), with hearty recipes like Shepherd's Pie and dashes of cookery
wisdom from Mary Poppins, such as "You must wait for the souffle--it
won't wait for you." It's not completely beginner friendly, but kids
(or adults)
who already know the basics of separating eggs and sifting flour will
find it pretty easy to follow. (8 & up)
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