Once Upon a Time in the Kitchen: Recipes and Tales from Classic Children's Stories

Kid-friendly recipes inspired by classic children's stories!

Odell, Carol.
Once Upon a Time in the Kitchen: Recipes and Tales from Classic Children's Stories.
May 2010.
Sleeping Bear Press.
Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.

Carol Odell explains to readers thatwhen you read a story by a good writer you can sometimes hear and see and smell the story! You know exactly what Pooh sounds like when he is "humming to himself in rather a sticky voice." You can soar away with Peter Pan out of your bed into the night sky. And don't you wish you could have some of the jam tarts from Alice in Wonderland?Odell goes on to explain that with her newest book, Once Upon a Time in the Kitchen: Recipes and Tales from Class Children's Stories, now offers children to do just that - to step into the world of many well-known characters and experience the food that they might have eaten! All of the recipes are inspired by well-known children's literature and the book contains recipes that are appropriate to fill all meals of the day (breakfast, sandwiches, main meals and even desserts). All of the recipes are combined with an excerpt from the specific literature piece that inspired it!

I absolutely love this book! It's so fun... and full of information. It really makes you start thinking outside the box a bit and further analyzing some of the literature you read! For children, this might be harder, but after sharing a book like this with your children, I think you'll probably find yourself looking for "recipe inspiration" in other stories you share, as well!

The children's literature that inspired the recipes include:

• The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle
• The Jungle Book
• The Secret Garden
• The Cinnamon Tree in the Moon
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
• Treasure Island
• The Wind in the Willows
• Winnie-the-Pooh
• The Life and Adventures of Robin Hood
• Little Women
• The Owl and the Pussy-cat
• Peter Piper
• Robinson Crusoe
• The Story of Aladdin
• Peter Pan
• Pinocchio
• The Water Babies
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• The Fir Tree
• Beauty and the Beast
  

Learning/Reading Activity:

• Purchase this book to share with your child(ren). Look it over yourself, then head out to the library and check out a selection of books that inspired the recipes in Once Upon a Time in the Kitchen. Share the stories with your child(ren) and then discuss how the recipes are mentioned (or referred to in different ways) in the story. Then, work together to create the recipe inspired by the book! This would make for a wonderful rainy-day activity!
  

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!

A Tale of Two Seders

Celebrate the uniqueness of families, while helping children appreciate diverse holidays.

Portnoy, Mindy Avra.
A Tale of Two Seders.
March 2010.
Lerner Publishing Group.
Review copy provided courtesy of publisher.

Divorce, remarriage and its impact on children are all featured in A Tale of Two Seders, a story in which a young girl introduces the Jewish holiday of Passover to readers, while at the same time, sharing the ways in which divorce and remarriage have shaped her young life. Over the course of three years, the narrator (a young girl), spends the Passover holiday shared between her two homes - once with her mother and once with her father. Many aspects of the traditional Passover Seder is discussed at some length, allowing readers to begin to gain an understanding of the holiday and it's similarities and differences to holidays celebrated by other religions.

While the book is definitely sharing with readers a wealth of information regarding Passover, it seemed more to me as a story of coping with a significant change in family dynamics. In order for children to make the most of this book, it seems as though they need to have a basic understanding beforehand about Passover. This could be done simply by using the glossary found at the back of the book (a plus, in my eyes, as I'm not too familiar with Passover, myself). I definitely enjoyed the story being told, as there was an important message relayed at the very end

families are like charoset. Some have more ingredients than others, some stick together better than others, some are sweeter than others. But each one is tasty in its own way.

Learning/Reading Activity:

• To understand the "moral" of the story (found directly above), have each member of your family create a smaller batch of each of the Charoset recipes found on page 30 and 31 of the book. Discuss as a family, the different ingredients. Choose which Charoset was the sweetest. The stickiest. The most ingredients. Compare these to your family. What makes your family unique?
• Research more about the Jewish holiday of Passover. Choose 3 holidays from different cultures (ones that you don't typically celebrate in your family) and celebrate those holidays to find out more about different worldy cultures.
  

If you're interested in finding out more information about any of the books reviewed or if you'd like to purchase the books, click the cover image for a link to Amazon.com. I am an Amazon Affiliate, so any purchases you make after clicking these images will result in my receiving a small percentage of the sale price!