Tag: food

Posted in Preschool Reads

Book Review: How Are You Peeling? Foods with Moods by Saxton Freeman/illus. by Joost Elffers (Arthur A. Levine Books, 1999)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

how are you peelingRecommended for ages 2-8

Do you feel silly? Safe? Shy? Saxton Freeman and Joost Elffers sculpted facial expressions into fruits and vegetables to communicate a wide range of emotions in How Are You Peeling? Fruits with Moods. Using an Exacto knife and natural materials like black-eyed peas and beet-juice coloring, the authors enhanced the natural wrinkles, bends and creases in produce to illustrate emotions. The sculptures, photographed against plain but colorful backgrounds, are large and vivid, allowing the youngest readers to easily identify the emotions depicted. Beginning with the opening question, “How are you feeling?”, the text goes on to asks questions that will provoke thought in listeners: “Feeling blue? Feeling bad? How are you when friends drop by? With someone new… a little shy?” The text is brightly colored and small, letting the produce’s expressions speak for them; this is a book meant to be read aloud and to prompt discussion. The New York Times Book Review voted How Are You Peeling? Best Illustrated Children’s Book in 1999.

The book lends itself to a read-aloud about feelings, where patrons can call out answers to the questions asked in the book and identify the emotions portrayed on the featured produce. Activities can include songs about feelings like “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, and craft ideas include a facial expressions printable to color, or, for older (3-4) participants, the chance to draw different expressions that answer the question, “How are you feeling?”

Posted in Preschool Reads, Toddler Reads

Book Review: Mr. Cookie Baker, by Monica Wellington (Dutton, 2006)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

cookie bakerRecommended for ages 2-4

Every day, Mr. Baker makes cookies for his crowded store. When the day is done, he gets to have one, himself.

The story takes the reader through Mr. Baker’s day, most of which is devoted to baking cookies. He counts and measures his ingredients, mixes the dough, rolls out the dough and cuts shapes with cookie cutters, bakes the cookies, takes them out and decorates them, and greets his customers. When the customers go home and all of the cookies are gone, his day ends and he enjoys a cookie. It’s a simple story that features gouache and colored pencil artwork. The flat, bright colors and clean lines, along with the fun shapes of the cookies framing the text page of each spread, adds interest to the page. Ms. Wellington’s pages are busy – there are cooking utensils and ingredients, children, sprinkles, and cookies on every page, giving the eye many places to look. The font changes color to contrast with its backgrounds – white for darker backgrounds, brown and red for lighter backgrounds.  There are four recipes at the end of the book for any parents and/or guardians interested in baking.

This book would be part of a fun cooking and baking read-aloud. With permission, parents and guardians could receive copies of the four recipes included in the back of the book. A fun storytime craft would allow children to “make” their own cookies by using precut cookie shapes and “sprinkles” (stickers).

The author’s website offers some printable activities and recipes.

 

Posted in Preschool Reads

Book Review: Dim Sum for Everyone, by Grace Lin (Dell Dragonfly, 2003)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Dim-Sum-for-EveryoneRecommended for ages 2-5

A child describes her dinner at a dim sum restaurant with her family, explaining what dim sum is – little dishes of different foods – and what each member of her family chooses from the little carts that bring food to the tables. Perspective changes to feature each family member as they choose a different food. Multicultural audiences will appreciate learning about new and different foods, and many families will identify with the experience. The illustrations are brightly colored, with the restaurant’s red carpet serving as the background for each spread; the bright silver carts and vibrantly colored foods and clothing add to the visual interest. The front endpapers feature food, condiments and tableware against a bright green background and the back endpapers illustrate almost two dozen dim sum dishes.  The bright yellow font creates a nice contrast from the red background, and occasionally, the text curves around the picture, adding to the visual appeal.

dim sum image

This would be a strong addition to a multicultural read-aloud or a Chinese New Year read-aloud. Preschoolers will be intrigued by the bright colors and names of the characters (Ma-Ma, Ba-Ba, Jie-Jie, Mei-Mei); the interesting new foods could start a fun discussion on other types of ethnic foods. If space permits and the food is available, perhaps there could be a small selection of foods available for audiences to sample. A Chinese New Year read-aloud could also offer printables of the Chinese astrological signs, with explanations for each sign.  Oriental Trading’s website offers many affordable Chinese New Year crafts for little hands, and there are free lantern crafts available online that parents/guardians could help children create.

The author’s webpage offers printables, crafts, Chinese lessons, and recipes.