National Geographic Kids Almanac 2011

Back-of-the-book blurb:  In true National Geographic Kids magazine style, this is a book to excite kids about their planet: its fun-filled pages are packed with everything from how to decode your dreams to the excitement of underwater pumpkin carving to the fascinating powers of the human brain. Geography, history, science, and adventure—it’s all here to explore in one single volume. This is the reference book that gives young minds MORE…

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:  My kids fight over this book.  They argue over who was reading it before dinner (and who should be able to return to it after dinner), who removed the dollar bill that was being used as a book mark, and who used PEN to answer some of the fun quizzes in it.  In other words, the National Geographic Kids Almanac 2011 is a big hit at our house (I probably shouldn’t use the phrases ‘my kids fight’ and ‘big hit’ in such proximity … I don’t mean to imply that they’ve actually come to blows over it … yet).

The almanac is divided into several sections:

• Your World 2011
• Amazing Animals
• Going Green
• Super Science
• Geography Rocks
• History Happens
• Culture Connection
• Awesome Adventure
• Wonders of Nature
• Future World

Your World 2011 looks at a dozen or hot current topics.  Our favorite is “First-Class Recycling” which is a four-paragraph article discussing an extreme repurposing project – a resort in Costa Rica that uses retired airplanes as hotel space!  It’s not just a fun fact, the article explains why they’re a viable base (they’re sturdy and well-insulated, aside from being unique), and is accompanied by a full-color photo of the renovated plane.  This article shares the double-page layout with three other articles, all have attention-getting headline fonts, cover interesting topics, and include appropriate illustrations.

Book-ended by Your World and Future World, the other sections are loaded with short articles, graphics, quizzes, reference guides and “cool clicks” pointing to online resources.  Geography Rocks shows various types of maps, physical geographic features, and an overview of the seven continents.  It also contains a great reference section with information about the 194 independent countries recognized by the National Geographic Society – statistics like area, population, capital, currency, religions, and languages, as well as a graphic of the nation’s flag.  Pop-outs break up the potential monotony with headlines such as “5 cool things about Israel” and “Climbing Mount Everest.”  I was (am?) a map geek, and was especially pleased to see my kids poring over this section, trying to stump each other with spontaneous quizzes asking them to identify on which continent a particular country would be found.

Kids’ view – Lots of fun information and interesting pictures (even The Little Guy, not yet a reader, invents stories to match the illustrations).  “It will take a really long time to completely read this book, and you don’t have to read it in order” is the assessment of our 8-year-old.

Mom’s view – Lots of fun information and interesting pictures.  ”It will take a really long time to completely read this book, and you don’t have to read it in order” (why reinvent the wheel?  she said it all!).  I was concerned that the paperback cover might not stand up to repeated reading, but my fears have proven unfounded (it’s also available in hardcover!).  The National Geographic Kids Almanac 2011 is all the best we’ve come to expect from National Geographic publications – not just fun facts, but a reference that can be returned to again and again.

The bottom line – Great for home reference library or pleasure reading; compact to fit in a back-pack or travel activity bag.  My middle kids have asked me to buy a second copy so they can each have their own (how can I deny them?!).

Talking to Girls about Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut

Back-of-the-book blurb:  Growing up in the eighties, you were surrounded by mysteries. These were the years of MTV and John Hughes movies, the era of big dreams and bigger shoulder pads. Like any teenage geek, Rob Sheffield spent the decade searching for true love and maybe a cooler haircut. This memoir is his tale of stumbling into adulthood with a killer soundtrack; it is a journey through pop culture of an American adolescence that will remind you of your first crush, first car, and first kiss. But it’s not just a book about music. This is a book about moments in time, and the way we obsess over them through the years.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:  In the introduction to his memoir about growing up in the 80s, Rob Sheffield muses:

It’s complicated, the way we use pop culture artifacts in our day-to-day emotional relationships … What else is pop culture for? … bringing people together is what music has always done best. … I could claim that Duran Duran taught me everything I know about women, but that’s not exactly accurate:  I learned it from listening to girls talk about Duran Duran.

Sheffield’s story is, of course, about more than Duran Duran.  It’s filled to overflowing with 80s references, from movies (Pretty in Pink, Dirty Dancing and Sixteen Candles) and fashions (um, I’m using the term loosely to apply it to Dynasty-era shoulder pads and the ubiquitous Members Only jacket) to current flashback favorites (“Tainted Love” and “Billie Jean”) and songs you might hear at a wedding reception this very weekend (“Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Don’t Stop Believin’”). 

Sheffield writes with a loose and conversational style; I image an author event would be filled with laughter and head-nodding as he read from his book.  He writes a lot of humor in Talking to Girls; yes, much of which will be most appreciated by those who were around in the 80s and enjoyed, or at least were aware of, the movies and music he uses to frame his memoir.

An example of the way pop culture anchors the memoir (and one of many passages I read aloud to J as I enjoyed this book):  Sheffield spent the summer of ’82 (between Sophomore and Junior years in high school, if my calculations are correct) as an exchange student in Madrid, making fast friends with many local girls, who considered him “just a friend” and a safe escort to parties and outings:

Sometimes they trusted me to pick the evening’s entertainment. … But I squandered my credibility dragging them to Airplane! retitled Aterrizza come puedas, or “Land However You Can.”  I assured them that in America, this was universally recognized as the funniest movie ever made.  How I laughed, the lone hyena in the theater, at all the badly dubbed Spanish versions of the jokes I knew by heart.  The girls failed to see the humor of “Yo hablo jive” or “No me llamas Shirley.”

I tried explaining why it was funny.  See, in ingles, the word “seguramente” is “surely,” which sounds like el nombre de una persona.  Shirley!  Divertido, no?

I was never allowed to pick the movie again.  To punish me, they took me to see Midnight Express, about an American boy who gets thrown into a foreign jail because he tries to smuggle drugs.  The movie was torture to watch, although, it did introduce me to the concept of bras that unhook in the front.

Rob Sheffield tells his story, setting the time and place by the pop culture he soaked up as a teen.  It’s his story – the events are the personal anecdotes of a self-confessed quiet geeky guy, the oldest of four children, and the only son in an Irish Catholic family living outside Boston.  But, it could be anyone’s story.  Single, outgoing, mother of two in Des Moines? It’s her story.  Married, unemployed accountant in Tampa?  It’s his story.  We can all connect to the memories that surface when a certain song plays on the radio, or when we land on a favorite old TV show when channel-surfing; Sheffield shares what sparks those memories for him.

Recommended for fans of the 80s; if you survived them the first time around, you’ll especially enjoy this trip down memory lane.

About the author:  Rob Sheffield is a music journalist and columnist for Rolling Stone.  His previously published memoir, Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time, has been added to my wish list.

The Language of Trees

Back-of-the-book blurb:  Echo O’Connell returns home to Canandaigua, to confront spirits, both living and not, and to share a secret with her first love, Grant Shongo—a secret that will forever change the lives of many people in the town and put to rest the mysterious disappearance of a little boy more than a decade earlier.

Grant, a descendant of Seneca Indians, has also come back to face his past.  After a broken marriage, he has moved into his childhood home, a lake house that has withstood happiness and tragedy.  He knows the spirits of the past must be dealt with—that of the little boy who disappeared all those years ago; the boy’s sister, who never overcame the loss; and the love Grant still has for Echo. But before the healing must come the forgiveness. . . .

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:  The Language of Trees shows striking loss and equally dramatic healing experienced by the people in a small village on the shore of one of New York state’s beautiful finger lakes.  In contrast to the tourist images of idyllic waters sparkling in the summer sun, we see the stormy side of the lake – losses in love and other emotions, battles with illness, death, and, most poignantly for this group of characters, those caused by ignorance, or blatant disrespect, for the Seneca legends that ring the shore.

The bulk of the novel takes place early one summer, as the seasonal residents are starting to return to the lake for their summer sojourns.  Grant Shongo has come to contemplate his failed marriage, staying in his family’s summer cottage; each evening he spends time with his thoughts, carving a statue of a Seneca warrior, one for every night since his return.  Again and again he is visited in his dreams by Luke, the young boy who drowned on the lake a decade earlier.  Can Grant somehow resolve the open ends that haunt not only him, but others in this small community?  We have a hint as to where his convictions lie (p. 22):

His father strongly believed the words of his Seneca ancestors.  That when a man left this lifetime without repenting for his sins, the Punisher would take him in this hands and turn him into ash.  Then he’s spread him into earth to do everything all over again.

Echo O’Connell has returned to the lake to check in with her father, Joseph, who is in declining health.  Joseph runs the local dry goods store, a center of commerce and gossip in this small lake town.  For years, Echo, a full-time resident, had a serious relationship with Grant.  After a bad break-up, they hadn’t seen each other in years, until they meet on the side of the road (p. 80):

She gets in on the passenger’s side … She doesn’t think this is necessarily the best idea, sitting in a contained space with all this emotion about to blow the windows right out.  She edges as far away from him as she can because there are only two things you can do with this much feeling.  Run like hell or get naked.

Readers interested in legends and folklore will especially appreciate the respect Ruby pays to the tales of the Seneca Nation.  While some will read scenes in the novel as truth, others will be entertained by the magical realism.  The history of the Seneca and their place on the Lake is told respectfully, and overlays perfectly the contemporary issues facing Grant, Echo, and others in the novel.

A visual artist as well as an author,Ilie Ruby transports the reader to Canadaigua Lake with vivid ‘word pictures’ that capture not only the sights, but also the essence of the area.  I found myself reading quickly, to follow the emotionally-captivating plot she laid out, then returning to reread sections of the book, so that I could truly appreciate the beautiful writing.

Great news for book groups:  The Langauge of Trees is a paperback original, so you can avoid the ’wait for the paperback release’ guideline that many discussion groups follow.  The Author Insights section at the back of the book contains an essay exploring Ruby’s inspiration for writing, an interview, history and legends of the Seneca people, and a reading guide.

Put ‘em Up!: A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook from Drying and Freezing to Canning and Pickling

Back-of-the-book blurb:  Preserving is back, and it’s better than ever.  Flavors are brighter, batch sizes are more flexible, and modern methods make the process safer and easier.  Eating locally is on everybody’s mind … even beginners who never made peach jam or dill pickles in their grandmother’s kitchens are eager to pick up preserving skills as a way to save money, extend the local harvest, and control the quality of preserved ingredients.

She Is Too Fond of Books‘ review:  That ‘beginner’ referred to in the back-of-the-book blurb?  That’s me!  I’ve done my share of blanching and freezing the excess from our weekly CSA (community-supported agriculture), but beyond that, I haven’t ventured much further than an occasional tub of soup or container of pesto.  Sherri Brooks Vinton’s recently published Put ‘em Up! put me at ease in expanding my methods of food preparation and preserving.

The book is divided into two parts: Techniques and Recipes.  Both are loaded with illustrations (many detailed line drawing in Techniques, with color photos of the finished products in Recipes).  Instructions and explanations are clear, and the guide includes a table of contents, an appendix of resources (a dozen books suggested for further reading, sources for favorite equipment, national organizations which support the local food movement, and a state-by-state guide to local groups), and an inclusive index.

Part One: Techniques discusses various food preparation and preservation methods.  Preparation is the method you use to “essentially stop your food’s aging process,” including blanching (my old stand by), making jams, jellies, pickles, salsas, relishes, butters, and sauces.  Each method description follows the same format: Vinton defines the technique, lists equipment needed, then gives step-by-step directions.  The directions are boldly numbered, and usually include line drawings to further clarify the instructions.  Sidebars give further explanation when warranted; for example, when discussing how one tests for gel when making jelly, Vinton details the bubble, thermometer, sheeting, and chill tests.  I found this section to be both thorough in content and thoroughly readable; she shares personal anecdotes and tips, using “I” and “you”:

Chill:

I think this is the easiest test.  Put a plate in the freezer.  When you think the jam or jelly is nearly ready, drip a few drops onto the cold plate and let cool, then push the smudge with your finger.  If it wrinkles when you push it, your jam or jelly is ready.  If … it looks like you’re parting a mini Red Sea but there are no wrinkles, cook a few minutes longer and try again.  (To be perfectly honest, I love this test, but I always forget to put a plate in the freezer.  I just drizzle a few drops onto the bottom of an ice-cream container, which works just as well).

Extra points for her honesty in not claiming to be a perfect preserver, and for having a freezer stocked with ice cream!

The second section of Part One: Techniques discusses the food preservation methods of refrigeration, freezing, infusion, drying (ah, the herbs!), and the boiling-water method (what we typically refer to as ‘canning’).  About food preservation, Vinton says:

If you’ve ever popped some leftovers into the fridge or wrapped up some bread for the freezer, you have preserved food.  I find it loads of fun and peculiarly satisfying – like I’ve tapped into some inner hunter-gatherer who has successfully put away stores for the winter.

I haven’t yet attempted the boiling-water method, but feel that the instructions (including sections which warn ”Things that will surely get you into trouble” and reassure “Things that look bad but aren’t dangerous”) will see me through it with confidence.  I have become adept at pickling, which brings me to …

Part Two: Recipes includes, well, recipes, listed alphabetically by fruit/veggie, from apples (Dried Apple Rings) to watermelon (Watermelon Agua Fresca).  Aside from the expected list of ingredients and directions (how to ‘prepare’ the food), Vinton tells the reader how to preserve it (refrigerate, freeze, can, infuse, or dry), using icons as well as text.  

Check out the red hot recipe listings for the humble Chili Pepper:

• Red Hot Vodka
• Pickled Chili Peppers
• Ristras
• Charred Chilies
• Any-Chili  Hot Sauce
• Charred Chili Salsa
• Charred Chili Barbeque Sauce
• Chili Relish with Coriander
• Chili-Tomato Jam

Now, for the show-and-tell portion of my review … I made (and my family enjoyed) Zucchini Pickles and Radish Relish:

Zucchini pickles! whooda thunk it?!

Radish Relish – isn’t it pretty?!?

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The publisher has given me permission to share a recipe with you.  The Radish Relish (p. 243) is so unusual with its Indian flavors; the author suggests you “stir some into curried chicken salad or creamy potato salad to liven up the flavors and add some texture, or drain it and stir it into yogurt for an instant raita.”

Radish Relish (makes about 4 cups)

• Ingredients:
• 2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon whole coriander
• 1 tablespoon cumin seed
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seed
• 2 pounds radishes, shredded
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 (2-inch) knob ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

 

• Prepare:
• Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, coriander, cumin seed, and mustard seed in a large non-reactive saucepan, and bring to a boil Add the radishes, onion, ginger, and garlic, and return to a boil, stirring to ensure that all ingredients are heated through.  Remove from the heat.

 

• Preserve:
• Refrigerate:  Ladle into bowls or jars.  Cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks. [or]
• Can:  Use the boiling-water method.  Ladle into clean, hot half-pint canning jars, covering the solids by 1/4 inch with liquid.  Leave 1/4 inch of headspace between the top of the liquid and the lid.  Release trapped air.  Wipe the rims clean; center lids on the jars and screw on jar bands.  Process for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat, remove canner lid, and let jars rest in the water for 5 minutes.  Remove jars and set aside for 24 hours.  Check seals, then store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.

Back-of-the-box blurb:   Clare and Henry have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six.  They were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry was thirty-one.  Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future.  His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

Clare and Henry’s story unfolds from both points of view, depicting the effects of time travel on their marriage and their passionate love for each other.  They attempt to live normal lives … All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ thoughts:  When I picked up The Time Traveler’s Wife, I didn’t expect to be so totally captivated by this love story that criss-crosses back and forth through time and ages.  I’m the first to admit that I’m not a fan of fantasy or science fiction, but this worked for me … more than worked, it so captivated me that I barely felt the hours I spent painting while listening to it (well, I felt the ceiling painting; it’s hard to ignore Linen White splatters on head, face, and arms!).

A line that stands out, in the words of Henry DeTamble:

It’s easy to be omniscient when you’ve done it all before.

The novel takes place in the present day … as much as possible for a novel about a time traveler!  The bulk of the novel is about the marriage of Clare and Henry – a couple with a love so fierce and powerful (and passionate!), that it sustains them while they struggle with the difficulties of Henry’s disorder.

Niffenegger builds the novel around Henry and Clare, but minor characters play significant roles as well.  Their relationships with family and friends are explored – who do they tell of Henry’s situation, and under what circumstances?  Will the news be greeted with support or scorn?  There’s a bit of theology and philosophy, both implied and discussed directly by the characters - can/should Henry change the future?  What’s the difference between determinism and free will?  The devoted faith of Clare’s Catholic upbringing ebbs and flows as she grapples with the challenges they face.

In many ways, I was reminded of The Unnamed, Joshua Ferris’ novel of a man struggling with a physical problem for which there is no cure; like Tim and Jane, Henry and Clare work with the disease (or, “chrono-displacement”) to the best of their ability, buoyed by the strength of their love.  The Time Traveler’s Wife also brought to mind Sundays at Tiffany’s, a James Patterson novel about a young girl’s imaginary friend who becomes her lover when she is an adult.  While the premise of Sundays at Tiffany’s was a bit uncomfortable, I didn’t feel that at all with TTW; perhaps because it wasn’t told in a linear fashion, starting when Clare was a child, but beginning on their first date and going back and forth from there?

The city of Chicago has a huge presence in the story.  I’ve never been to the city, aside from changing planes at O’Hare, but I was able to pick up on the personality of various areas and venues, from Lincoln Park and the waterfront to the Field Museum and the Newberry Library.  I imagine The Time Traveler’s Wife is especially delightful to someone familiar with Chicago.

I haven’t read the print edition of The Time Traveler’s Wife, and I have yet to see the film.  I’m not sure I would have enjoyed started with the print edition – I may have found it confusing, or been put off by the fantastic nature of time travel.  The audiobook’s use of two readers (William Hope and Laura Lefkow), make clear the points of view.

Overall, highly recommended!  I think the audiobook version was the right starting place for me; one day I’ll read the print edition, and I’ve got the film queued up on Netflix.

FTC disclosure: I won this via a random giveaway on Twitter from @highBridgeAudio

Sea Escape

Back-of-the-book blurb:  Laura Martinez is wedged in the middle place, grappling with her busy life as a nurse, wife, and devoted mom to her two young children when her estranged mother, Helen, suffers a devastating stroke. In a desperate attempt to lure her mother into choosing life, Laura goes to Sea Escape, the pristine beach home that Helen took refuge in after the death of her beloved husband, Joseph. There, Laura hunts for the legendary love letters her father wrote to her mother when he served as a reporter for the Associated Press during wartime Vietnam.

Weaving back and forth from Laura’s story to her mother’s, beginning in the idyllic 1950s with Helen’s love affair with Joseph through the tumultuous Vietnam War period on to the present, Sea Escape looks at what women face in their everyday lives—the balancing act of raising capable and happy children and being accomplished and steadfast wives while still being gracious and good daughters.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:  Lynne Griffin‘s Sea Escape is listed on Entertainment Weekly’s list of Top Ten Must Read Summer Books, but don’t assume that means that it’s a light and fluffy beach book!  Griffin tackles several issues in this gem of women’s fiction – women’s relationships to their mothers, husbands, and children; that elusive balance which so many search for; family secrets that come between us; and the way events halfway around the world can affect us in our seemingly impervious suburban bubbles.  The various threads of the novel form an entertaining and thought-provoking read.

From the beginning chapters I was struck by the range of emotion expressed by Griffin’s characters and transferred to me as I read their stories.  Laura’s part-time position in the postpartum nursery, her clear love of her children, and her singular focus on care for Helen after the stroke evoke compassion.  Why then, was there such disharmony between mother and daughter?  Laura seemed to be almost invisible to Helen before her illness.  Laura, in turn, was controlling and angry when well-meaning help was offered by her husband (Christian) or friends:

All Christian had been doing since my mother got sick was to present me with kind gestures and tender words.  But with each piece of advice he offered, with every new situation he efficiently managed, I felt more inadequate.

Through chapters alternately told in the past and present, we learn that Laura’s relationship with Helen has hardened in response to Helen’s treatment of her, yet, Laura so desperately wants to make things right between them.  Even in her 40s, Laura is the little girl trying to please her mother:

… I was willing to do whatever I could to see my mother’s smile return … it reminded me of life before my father died, when my mother’s happy look was a constant in our relationship.

We see Helen in the present only after her stroke, when she is disabled and struggling.  I’m very impressed and touched by the way Griffin handles Helen’s character after the stroke; she writes with such compassion, realistically portraying the effects of stroke while keeping the character’s dignity.

The setting is a fictional town in coastal Massachusetts.  Readers of this blog know that I’m usually bothered by fictional names given to places I know, that I get sidetracked trying to figure out which town the author is referencing.  Not in this case.  Griffin places Helen in Anaskaket, a likely-sounding Native American name for a town in the Bay State.  Laura and Christian live nearby in Magnolia, a fitting hometown for a man who designs award-winning landscaping for a living.  However, the serenity implied by Anaskaket and Magnolia aren’t enough to buoy Laura when she struggles to balance the needs of her mother, her husband, and her children:

(p 183) Unlike the ornamental grass that lined the path to the beach, planted near the seashore because of its ability to bend to the constancy of the wind, I felt as if I were about to break.

It is through flashbacks and a collection of letters from Joseph (working as a war correspondent in Vietnam) to Helen that we learn the fuller story of this family.  In contrast to the cold and controlling mother that Laura has seen for the past 30 years, we get to know a younger Helen, one who is carefree and bubbly, who takes pleasure in being courted by Joseph and in preparing a beautiful home for them to share.  What happened to the woman who saw beauty in textiles and so carefully crafted Sea Escape for her young family?  Laura thinks she may never learn what caused the shift in her mother’s behavior, but she, and the reader, will enjoy a bittersweet satisfaction as the layers of this novel are revealed.

About the author:  Lynne Griffin teaches at Wheelock College and at Grub Street Writers in Boston, and often discusses family life issues on local television.  Her previous novel, Life Without Summer, was named a Target Breakout Book and a Borders Summer Read.  In addition to the EW list mentioned above, Sea Escape is on the July 2010 Indie Notables list from IndieBound (bookseller recommendations).  For more information on the author and her work, visit Lynne Griffin’s website, her Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter.

Follow Lynne Griffin’s TLC Book Tour for other thoughts/reviews, guest posts, interviews, andgiveaways (yes, check back here in the next few days for your chance to win a copies of both Sea Escape and Life Without Summer!)

• Tuesday, July 6th:  Peeking Between the Pages
• Wedensday, July 7th:  S. Kristinas Books
• Thursday, July 8th:  She is Too Fond of Books
• Monday, July 12th:  Bookstack
• Tuesday, July 13th:  Caribousmom
• Wednesday, July 14th:  Red Lady’s Reading Room
• Thursday, July 15th:  Booking Mama
• Monday, July 19th:  Raging Bibliomania
• Tuesday, July 20th:  Beth Fish Reads
• Wednesday, July 21st: Maw Books Blog
• Thursday, July 22nd:  Dolce Bellezza
• Monday, July 26th:  Books Like Breathing
• Tuesday, July 27th:  Write Meg
• Wednesday, July 28th:  Thoughts From an Evil Overlord
• Thursday, July 29th:  As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves

A White House Garden Cookbook: Healthy Ideas from the First Family for Your Family

Back-of-the-book blurb:   This book chronicles the first year of the White House vegetable garden with its many dozens of vegetables and herbs, including descendants of seeds planted by Thomas Jefferson; its berries and the honey from the hives of First Family bees. Mrs. Obama enlisted both staff and nearby school kids who learned much about there being a time to prepare the soil before you plant, times to harvest, and to cook and eat. You (and your kids) can join a co-op garden or plant a few of your favorite things in window boxes. Or, you can shop for the seasonally-fresh and eat well.. Just follow the truly tempting recipes the author has adapted for family dinners. She offers two or three for each White House crop, with extras thrown in for Presidential desserts.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:  Although A White House Garden Cookbook is billed as a cookbook, our family found it to be so much more!  The physical format and content made it very inviting for my middle-grade readers (ages 8 and 12) to spend time reading it almost like a novel.  It’s a  mid-size paper back with French flaps, color photos (of produce, prepared dishes, or garden workers) on each page, and loads of colorful sidebars with fun facts about vegetables and community gardens.

We all enjoyed the recipes and tips about using the vegetables from our CSA and backyard garden; there is also information about planning and planting a garden, harvesting, and preparing the beds for the next season as they winter over. 

Interspersed between the segments of practical advice are vignettes about the creation of the White House Kitchen Garden, from Michelle Obama’s inspiration; to its planning, planting, and harvesting with help from local schools and community groups.  My kids flipped through the book and read these sections as they would read a story, eager to learn what was happening in the White House garden through the seasons, and to connect it with what we could expect from our own 4 x 8 raised bed and herb pots.

There are “four score and seven” recipes in the book (coincidence? I think not!), arranged according to season.  They are a mix of vintage and contemporary recipes from the White House kitchen, as well as tried-and-true recipes from community gardens across the U.S.  Suggestions for special event menus (pizza party, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving) include several seasonal dishes to fit the theme.

We are a bit overwhelmed with the bounty from our weekly CSA, and I’ve turned to the book several times.  A variation to the recipe for Onion Packets (p. 45; contributed by an after-school program in South Dakota) suggests trimming beets and wrapping them in foil, then grilling until tender, about 45 minutes.  I followed the instructions, rubbed the cooled beets under water to remove the outer skins, and have been enjoying them all week.  I’ve served them sliced over field greens, with a little crumbled bleu cheese and some herbed Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing (p. 30) – yum!

A White House Garden Cookbook is a story in itself, with kid-friendly seasonal recipes.  The food-splattered index of my book is evidence that we’ve thoroughly taste-tested the early summer crops; we’re looking forward to dog-earring recipes the include corn and tomatoes, next up at the CSA  And don’t tell the kids, but their involvement in planning, planting, harvesting, and cooking will increase their interest in actually eating the fresh produce that comes from your garden (or farmer’s market or local stand).

What’s your favorite treasure from the vegetable/herb garden?

See what else is happening in the kitchens of the blogosphere this weekend.  Check out Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking to find links to other food-related posts.  There may be book reviews, recipes, kitchen gadget tips and tricks …

My Best Friend Is As Sharp As a Pencil: And Other Funny Classroom Portraits

Back-of-the-Book Blurb:  This picture book encourages children to be creative and make their own object portraits.  Learn how to create a funny librarian, a colorful art teacher, or your best friend by seeing how one girl does it in this simple, playful book that’s comprised of portraits made of objects. Once the girl has talked about—and drawn—the key figures in her school, she ends with the pièce de résistance—a class portrait!

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:  The narrator in Hanoch Piven’s clever picture book is an unnamed girl whose grandma peppers her with questions about school: “What is your teacher like?  What’s your favorite part of the day?  Who is your best friend?  Who is your favorite teacher?” , etc.  The girl thinks:

This time, instead of giving her the same old boring answers, I have an idea …. I’ll show her!

Using found objects (a wrapped candy, party horn, magnetic letters, flower-shaped buttons, and a pair of glasses, she creates a portrait of Mrs. Jennings, showing that the teacher:

talks in a voice as sweet as candy

can spell anything, without making one mistake!

smells soooo lovely — as lovely as flowers

notices everything, just like a pair of glasses

We really enjoyed this book!  The kids like the clever “I Spy” personality of the portraits, wondering how each object will be used, then turning the page to see the results.  I’m the kind of parent who might sneak pureed spinach into the pasta sauce, so I appreciate the many similes and metaphors which encourage kids to stretch their imaginations when describing something.

My Best Friend Is As Sharp As a Pencil isn’t about an involved plot, character development, or a moral/lesson.  It’s all about looking at the world in a creative way, seeing the extraordinary in the objects and people around us.  Budding Botticellis (and even reluctant Rembrandts) will enjoy mimicking the technique — all you need is a clear spot on a table or floor, ‘stuff’ from around the house, and your imagination.

About the author:  Hanoch Piven is an Israeli artist whose award-winning work has appeared in major publications worldwide.  He has six previously published children’s books, including What Presidents Are Made of, which won the 2004 Parent’s Choice Award.  His Piven World website includes a gallery of portraits sent in by readers – once you start creating with found objects, it’s hard to stop (and a good excuse NOT to clean the playroom, according to my children!)

Day for Night

Back-of-the-book blurb: “If you look hard enough into the history of anything, you will discover things that seem to be connected but are not.” So claims a character in Frederick Reiken’s novel, which seems in fact to be determined to prove just the opposite. How else to explain the threads that link a middle-aged woman on vacation in Florida with a rock and roll singer visiting her comatose brother in Utah, where he’s been transported after a motorcycle injury in Israel, where he works with a man whose long-lost mother, in a retirement community in New Jersey, recognizes him in a televised report about an Israeli-Palestinian skirmish? And that’s not the half of it.

In Day for Night, Frederick Reiken spins an unlikely and yet utterly convincing story about people lost and found. They are all refugees from their own lives or history’s cruelties, and yet they wind up linked to each other in compelling and unpredictable ways that will keep you guessing until the very end.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ review:  Day for Night is definitely one of the more unusual books I’ve read in a while.  Not only are there quite a few points of view (first-person male and female, told in narrative format, letters, and an investigative report), but there are tangents and side trips that at first appear unrelated to the central plot, but (usually) do circle back to it.

Despite the many (15? 20?) narrators in Frederick Reiken’s novel, I had no trouble keeping up with whose point of view I was reading, or setting the chapter in the timeline of the novel.  In fact, as the various stories came together, it was exciting to see how/if they would interconnect with what had come before, or if, in fact, a new thread was being introduced.

Yet, I will admit that when I closed the book I wasn’t completely satisfied; there were a few questions (about characters and their actions) that were left unanswered/unexplored, and, more importantly, I was left wondering what the novel was really about.  I think if I hadn’t heard “it’s a novel about the Holocaust” I would have been more satisfied.  And, to be fair, none of the publisher’s promotional material indicates “it’s a novel about the Holocaust,” this is an interpretation from various reviews/readers/tweets I’ve been in contact with … you know how it is, as J likes to say, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube (in other words, I can’t forget that I’ve heard/read that interpretation).

But did I like it?  I thought it was interesting.  Despite not being fully satisfied with loose ends, I enjoyed Reiken’s writing style, and was impressed with the many voices he conjured.  My Skype book club selected this book for our June meeting, but we’ve postponed the discussion until next month – I’m looking forward to talking about it.

So, rather than dazzle you with my typical brilliant review style (OK, stop laughing.  Stop rolling your eyes, too!), I’ve sounded very wishy-washy here.  I’m going to refer you to someone who knows what she likes, and can tell you why she likes it; check out The Book Ladys’ review of Day for Night.