Literature-Related Cooking Experiences for Families

To introduce children to literature related cooking, read a story to your child/children that includes food as a major part of the story theme. Select stories that relate to a current topic of discussion or the season ( This makes it very easy to select books with related cooking experiences.)

Then discuss with your child/ren the type of food they could prepare, based on the food mentioned in the book.

Cookbooks may be consulted for ideas or exact recipes. Decide upon an appropriate recipe and write down. Reinforece the recipe by having your children write there own recipe cards, if they are too little to do this let them color a recipe page you created.

This then becomes a part of a year-round literature cookbook.

 The following is a recipe for the story

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charoltte Zolotow.

The food in the story motivated the creation of the recipe. The format for the recipe provides a sample outline for recording recipes in your literature cookbook

Book: Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present

Author: Charlotte Zolotow

Publisher: Harper & Row, 1962

Story Summary: A little girl, trying to decide upon a birthday present for her mother,

asks the help of a rabbit. Together, they decide upon an apple, banana, pear, and

grapes for the present.

Recipe:

Mr. Rabbit's Fruit Ambrosia

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 2 bananas
• bunch of seedless grapes
• 2 apples
• 2 pears
• 2 cups of shredded coconut

Directions:

 Peels and cut bananas, apples, and pears into small slices. Cut grapes in half. Arrange alternate layers of bananas, apples, pears, and grapes in clear plastic or glass serving dishes. Sprinkle each layer with the coconut, including the top. Chill and then serve immediately. If need to make ahead of time, squeeze lemon juice on fruit to prevent discoloration. Before beginning the food preparation,

To help you provide cooking experiences of children's literature I am listing according to seasons. The books were selected because they have food as a major part of the story.

Fall Books with Food in the Theme

• Kumin, M.W. Follow the Fall. Putnam Press, 1961.
• Moncure, J.B. Fall is Here. The Child's World, 1975.
• Tresselt, A.R. Autumn Harvest. Lothrop, 1951.
• York, Carol. Johnny Appleseed. Troll, 1980

Book: Johnny Appleseed

Author: York, Carol

Publisher: Troll, 1980

Children will appreciate this story about Johnny Appleseed's adventures as a pioneer, and how he wandered through the West planting his apple seeds.

Recipe Apple Sauce

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 12 apples (1 medium apple per serving)
• water
• 5 tbs. Sugar

Directions:

 Cut apples into quarters; remove cores and stems and pare. Place in deep saucepan. Add water until the apple pieces are just covered. Cover and cook until apples are tender (about 20 to 30 minutes). Add sugar and continue cooking until sugar dissolves. Mash and stir apples until they are the desired consistency for sauce.

Book: Hard Scrabble Harvest.

Author: Ipcar, Dahlov

Publisher: Doubleday & Company, 1976.

This story for children  relates in rhyme the farmers' struggle against the possibility of bad weather and pesky insects--from spring planting to fall harvest. Happily, the bookends with a harvest of tomatoes, apples, pumpkins, and corn.

•  Marino, Dorothy. Buzzy Bear's Winter Party. Franklin Watts, 1967.
• Welber, Robert. The Winter Picnic. Pantheon Books, 1970.
• Welber, Robert. The Winter Wedding. Pantheon Books, 1975.
• Hader, Berta and Elmer. The Big Snow. Macmillan Publishers, 1944
• De Regniers, Beatrice Shenk,The Snow Party,Pantheon Books, 1959

 Book: The Snow Party

Author: De Regniers, Beatrice Shenk

Publisher: Pantheon Books, 1959

As the geese fly south, the animals recognize this as a sign that winter is coming. A big snow falls and covers the ground. The animals can no longer find food. Then a little ol woman scatters seeds, nuts, and breadcrumbs for them.

Recipe Pinecone Bird Feeder

Each child will need:

• 1 large pinecone
• peanut butter
• birdseed
• string

Directions Tie a length of string to each pinecone. Spread the peanut butter into the open spaces of a pinecone. Stick birdseed into the peanut butter. Tie the pinecone on atree .

Book: The Snowy Day

Author: Keats, Ezra Jack

Publisher: Viking Press, 1961.

On the first snowy day of winter, everyone will enjoy the adventures of a boy who goes out to play in the newly fallen snow. He builds a snowman, makes angels, throws snowballs, and takes one snowball into his house to save for tomorrow.

Recipe Ice Cream Snowballs

Ingredients for 25 snowballs:

• 4 eggs
• 2½ cups sugar
• 6 cups light cream
• 6 cups milk
• 4 cups light cream
• 2 tbs. Vanilla
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 cups shredded coconut

Spring Books with Food in the Theme

• Blos, Joan. It's Spring She Said. Alfred Knopf, 1968.
• Delton, Judy. Three Friends Find Spring. Crown Publishers, Inc., 1977.
• Lerner, Sharon. Who Will Wake Up Spring? Lerner Publications Co., 1967.
• Krauss, Ruth. The Carrot Seed. Harper and Row, 1945.
• Lawson, Robert. Rabbit Hill. Viking, 1944.

Book: Rabbit Hill

Author: Lawson, Robert

Publisher: Viking, 1944

 The rabbit family and its friends worry if the people moving into the big house near their rabbit hill will be mean and pinching, or folks with a thought for the small creatures who have always lived there. The new folks prove their beneficence to animals by planting their vegetable garden without fences.

Recipe Rabbit Hill Spring Salad

If possible, using ingredients from a vegetable garden planted by the kids.

Ingredients for 25 servings:

• 2 heads lettuce
• 2 cucumbers
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 bunch carrots
• 1 dozen tomatoes

Directions:

Wash all vegetables. Tear lettuce into small pieces; slice cucumbers, celery, carrots, and tomatoes. Place each ingredient in its own separate bowl. Children

Summer Books with Food in the Theme

• Garlick, M. Down to the Beach. Four Winds Press, 1973.
• Goffstein, M. B. Fish for Supper. Dial Press, 1976.
• Ichikawa, S. Suzanne and Nicholas in the Garden. Franklin Watts, 1976.
• Schick. E. Summer at the Sea. William Morrow & Co., 1979.
• McCloskey, Robert. Blueberries for Sal. Viking Press, 1948.

Book: Blueberries for Sal

Author: McCloskey, Robert

Publisher: Viking Press, 1948

One summer day a little girl and her mother, as well as a bear cub and his mother, set out for a blueberry search in Maine. While hiking up opposite sides of a hill, the two children stray from their blueberrypicking mothers. The children are concerned only with filling themselves full of fruit. After a startle and two pails of fruit, they meet.

Recipe Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients for 15 large muffins:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup blueberries

Directions:

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add eggs and beat. Add flour, baking powder, and vanilla. Mix well. Fold in blueberries gently. Drop mixture into foil baking cups. Bake at 350°F 25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.

Book: Strawberry Girl

Author: Lenski, Lois

Publisher: Lippincott, 1945

 Birdie Boyer's family has moved to Florida's backwoods to raise small crops of sweet 'taters, strawberries, oranges, and the like.

Recipe Strawberry Layer Dessert:

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 1 10-oz. pkg. frozen sliced strawberries (thawed)
• 1 3-oz. pkg. strawberry gelatin
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 cup whipping cream (whipped)
• 1 10" tube angel-food cake

Directions

Drain strawberries, reserving 1/2 cup syrup. Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add reserved syrup. Chill until partially set. Beat mixture till light and fluffy. Fold in whipped cream. Chill until mixture is of spreading consistency. Transfer 1 1/2 cups mixture to small bowl; fold in drained strawberries. Split cake crosswise into three equal layers. Fill between layers with strawberry mixture. Frost top and sides with remaining whipped-cream mixture. Chill and serve.

 General List of Books with Food as a Major Part of Their Theme

•  Agnew, Seth M. The Giant Sandwich. Doubleday, 1970.
• Asch, Frank. Good Lemonade. Watts Publishers, 1976.
• Berestain, Janice and Stanley. The Big Honey Hunt. Beginner Books, 1962.
• Brandenberg, Franz. Fresh Cider and Pie. Macmillan, 1973.
• dePaola, Tomie. The Popcorn Book. Holiday House, 1978.
• Grimm, Brothers. Hansel and Gretal. Numerous editions.
• Hogrogian, Nonny. Carrot Cake. Greenwillow Books, 1976.
• Hutchins, Pat. Don't Forget the Bacon. Greenwillow Books, 1976.
• Le Sieg, Theo. Ten Apples Up on Top. Random House, 1961.
• Lionni, Leo. In the Rabbit Garden. Pantheon, 1975.