The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois + Berry Clafoutis
0 comments Posted by Ashley at Sunday, May 07, 2017This Newbery award winner is a book that I read and loved as a child, but then forgot about for many years. Every once in a while something would remind me of it and I'd wonder, "what was that book with the volcano and the hot air balloons and the crazy houses?" but like a distant dream it had faded into the haze of my memory. I was SO pleased to rediscover it several years ago and to find out it was just as good as I had remembered it being.
The Twenty-One Balloons is an adventure story--including the aforementioned hot air balloons, volcanoes, crazy inventions, and daring escapes. The main character is Professor William Waterman Sherman, a schoolteacher who's decided he's had enough of people and wants to go on a year-long journey to nowhere in particular, as long as he's alone. He chooses to do it via a giant hot air balloon, which captures the attention and imagination of San Francisco society, and he takes off amid much fanfare. But to the surprise of the world, he is found just three weeks later floating in the Atlantic amongst the wreckage of twenty hot air balloons. What happened to his balloon? Where did the other balloons come from? And how did he get into the wrong ocean?
Readers will soon find out that Professor Sherman had ended up crash landing and was picked up by the "locals" on the island of Krakatoa (history buffs will already know how this is going to end). The population of the island is mysteriously wealthy, and is comprised of 20 families organized into a rather strange society which centers around an alphabetical culinary arrangement. Each family has been assigned a different letter of the alphabet and a country/nationality that corresponds to that letter (A-American, B-British, C-Chinese, etc.) Each family takes turns hosting dinner for everyone else at their home and of course the home and the cuisine also matches the family's assigned nationality.
Professor Sherman is welcomed, introduced to everyone, and shown around each home--noting that they are beautiful and full of ingenious inventions. Then he is let in on the island's big secret. Which I'm not going to tell you. Because you need to read the book.
Did I mention that Pene du Bois includes a lot of fun illustrations? |
For my own culinary foray, I decided to make something French to go along with this book. Not because of Pene du Bois' French name (he was actually American) but because Mr. F is the one who introduces Professor Sherman to Krakatoan society.
I chose to make clafoutis as it's 1. easy, 2. summery, and 3. delicious.
I used this berry clafoutis recipe by Honest Fare and to be honest (...) I didn't change it much at all.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 ¼ cups milk
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups berries
First, mise en place.
Then, preheat your oven to 350 F (177C).
Next you pretty much just blend the ingredients. Easy peasy. In your blender (or if you're me, your Ninja) put the milk, 1/3 cup of the sugar (the rest will be used a bit later), eggs, flour, salt, vanilla, lemon zest, and cinnamon.
Blend.
Mmm, custardy. |
Remove from the oven (don't turn off the oven) and sprinkle all your berries over the firmed up batter. Now here's where I give a word of warning: if your berries were frozen, make sure to thaw them completely and drain them. I didn't (I knew I should, but was lazy) and ended up with quite a lot of red liquid watering things down and making it take longer to cook.
Sprinkle on the remaining sugar and then pour on the rest of the batter evenly over it all.
It's absolutely mandatory to serve this with fresh whipped cream.
Time Travelling with a Hamster by Ross Welford
0 comments Posted by Ashley at Friday, April 21, 2017“My dad died twice. Once when he was thirty nine and again four years later when he was twelve.
The first time had nothing to do with me. The second time definitely did, but I would never even have been there if it hadn’t been for his ‘time machine’…”
When Al Chaudhury discovers his late dad’s time machine, he finds that going back to the 1980s requires daring and imagination. It also requires lies, theft, burglary, and setting his school on fire. All without losing his pet hamster, Alan Shearer…
- 1 3/4 cups (350g) white sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups (abt 350g) all-purpose white flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarb of soda)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Nail color brought to you by Essie |
The view of my chopped cardamom, through a microscope. (not really) |
Isn't this beautiful? I love spices. (Except for cardamom, that bastard) |
Let them cool on the tray for a minute or two before removing to a wire rack. This recipe makes 3-4 dozen cookies.
Labels: Cookies, Cooking the Books, humor, MG, Middle Grade, Ross Welford
Yvain: The Knight of the Lion by M.T. Anderson and Andrea Offermann (and Chrétien de Troyes)
0 comments Posted by Ashley at Monday, April 03, 2017Some of the most famous Arthurian tales came from a poet called Chrétien de Troyes who lived in the 12th century, but these aren't necessarily on today's high school reading lists. It seems that while King Arthur and his knights of the round table are arguably the coolest bunch of not-quite-historical heroes around, it can be difficult to get today's middle grade crowd into reading Arthurian romances by long-dead Frenchmen (I wonder why).
Enter: M.T. Anderson and Andrea Offermann. These two talented individuals have taken one of Chrétien de Troyes' tales of adventure, love, murder, trickery, daring rescues, and frankly odd weather, and turned it into an accessible and exciting graphic novel.
The story follows a young knight of the Round Table, Yvain, who goes off in search of adventure in the forest of Broceliande. After killing a local lord in a fight, Yvain falls desperately in love with the lord's bereaved widow, Laudine, even as she is weeping over her husband's dead body (I know, right?). He decides he must have her. After being sort of tricked into it, Laudine marries Yvain who then decides to leave her for more adventures. She makes him promise to be gone no longer than a year. Of course, he is gone longer, and Laudine sends a messenger to disown him and tell him not to bother returning ever. He then goes a little mad with grief, but after a while becomes a knight errant, wandering the land in search of people who need his knightly services. After a series of adventures (dragons, giants, monsters, etc.) and good deeds (mostly saving fair maidens), he returns to Laudine who once again is tricked and forced to "forgive" him and accept him back. And they all live happily ever after?
At the core Yvain: The Knight of the Lion is still Chrétien de Troyes' original story (in all it's slightly disturbing details) but the gorgeous illustrations and updated dialogue give it new life.
Though the core has been kept, M.T. Anderson has managed to bring a new perspective to the story, especially to the characters of the ladies, who definitely get the short end of the stick. In this version of the story you are left knowing that Yvain doesn't quite get away with jilting his wife. I loved that Laudine's anger and unhappiness is clearly shown, even in the end.
How lovely is this art? |
Some of my own thoughts and methods are included here along with most of the original recipe's directions.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ounces dark chocolate
- 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Melt the chocolate and allow to cool slightly (I find the microwave is the easiest and least-messy way of melting chocolate). Stir the espresso powder into the chocolate.
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Action shot! |
Make a well in the middle of dough and pour in the melted chocolate.
If you have a cookie scoop, use that to scoop out evenly sized balls of dough, or just use a couple teaspoons to shape balls about an inch in diameter. Place on the cookies sheets about 1.5 inches apart. Don't press the balls down, they'll flatten out in the oven.
May have made them a little too big? |
Swirly whirly goodness |
Darkus Cuttle's dad mysteriously goes missing from his job as Director of Science at the Natural History Museum. Vanished without a trace! From a locked room! So Darkus moves in with his eccentric Uncle Max and next door to Humphrey and Pickering, two lunatic cousins with an enormous beetle infestation. Darkus soon discovers that the beetles are anything but ordinary. They're an amazing, intelligent super species and they're in danger of being exterminated. It's up to Darkus and his friends to save the beetles. But they're up against an even more terrifying villain--the mad scientist of fashion, haute couture villainess Lucretia Cutter. Lucretia has an alarming interest in insects and dastardly plans for the bugs. She won't let anyone or anything stop her, including Darkus's dad, who she has locked up in her dungeons! The beetles and kids join forces to rescue Mr. Cuttle and thwart Lucretia.
Following the scientific method of "asking friends" I discovered that it's definitely something you can do. Or at least maybe. Well, someone heard about someone doing it once. But microwaving is definitely safe. So... |
- 1 pound apples, peeled and thinly sliced (when baking I usually use Granny Smith apples, however they tend to be rather tart and when combined with the tartness of the cranberries it could get a little overwhelming. I recommend choosing a sweeter baking apple.)
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) cranberries, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- salt
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for dish
- 1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/8 cup rolled oats
- 1 1/2 tablespoons packed dark-brown sugar
First, preheat your oven to 425 degrees (220 C for the Brits). Butter the inside of the mugs/teacups/ramekins you're going to use. Cut the apples into chunks and then slice them super thin. They'll need to be smaller than you'd do for a normal crumble because they have to fit into much smaller containers.
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In a separate bowl, mix up the crumble topping: the walnuts, flour, oats, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt, mixed until combined. Work in butter with your fingertips until topping is crumbly, with pea-size chunks.
Make sure the butter is very cold, or the warmth of your hands will melt it too much and you'll end up with a dough rather than a crumble :-o |
Spoon the apple mixture into the prepared dishes and sprinkle them with the crumble topping (nice and thick, because we all know it's the best part).
Nom nom nom |
Bake until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let these cool before serving.
When everything is cool, grab your book (and some squirty whipped cream) and settle down for a tasty read!
No beetles in this mug! |
Labels: Adventure, Cooking the Books, crumble, M.G. Leonard, Middle Grade
If someone recommends a good trilogy to you, you might by default imagine it's a set of adult or YA fantasy books before hearing any more about it. Or maybe that's just me? Either way, it's probably safe to say your brain won't race to the conclusion it's a picture book. But that is just what I am about to recommend.
The page where she steps through that door and into a forest filled with lanterns was all it took for me to know I was going to love the rest of this book. What kid hasn't imagined that there is a magical world just out of sight behind something ordinary?
The story follows the girl as she adventures through a beautiful watercolor world, drawing things to help her on her way. She frees a captive, explores new lands, and eventually makes an unexpected new friend.
The following two books, Quest and Return, continue the theme as the girl and her friend have adventures and save the other world from bad guys who want to steal all the colors for themselves.
Who could resist going through a door like this? |
In addition to the illustrations, the other amazing thing about these books is that they have no words--and it works perfectly. The illustrations are detailed and magical enough to carry the story without the need of words while the lack of writing means the stories are accessible to all ages and languages.
Journey was a Caldecott Honor book in 2014 and his following two books are equally deserving.
It's a joy to follow the characters through fantastical landscapes with castles, jungles, and underwater kingdoms. Recommended for anyone who enjoys adventure and beautiful art.
Labels: Aaron Becker, Caldecott Honor, Picture Books
The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carrol, illustrated by Chris Riddell
0 comments Posted by Ashley at Sunday, January 15, 2017I have loved the writing of Lewis Carroll since reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a child. But I was an adult before I really was able to appreciate his humor and true brilliance with words. The Hunting of the Snark is no exception to Carroll's usual cleverness and is packed with nonsense and fun.
I recently discovered that the poem was originally published with illustrations in 1876. The version I grew up with was part of an anthology and thus sadly picture-less. However, I've now seen the illustrations and in my personal opinion the originals are a bit on the scary side (everyone but the bellman has massive heads and exaggerated features).
Original illustration by Henry Holiday. Scary scary. |
I loved re-reading the poem alongside Riddell's imaginings of the story. The illustrations perfectly fit the absurdity of the poem, while also being in a style that will appeal to a younger audience. Each character is given a unique visual personality which helps the reader keep everyone straight. The beaver particularly caught my fancy.
Riddell doesn't just illustrate the poem. Like an actor putting a personal spin on a Shakespeare character, he manages to add his own flair by not only illustrating the story, but adding his own mini sub-plot into the images. (I won't spoil it, but I will say that the baker might not be exactly what he seems!)
I loved this image. |
While the original illustrations never included an image of the snark itself, in this new version, we get not only to see what a snark looks like, but also a bandersnatch and a jubjub. What more could you ask for, really?
Not at all how I pictured a snark. Not even how I pictured a boojum. |
Without the least vestige of land:
And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be
A map they could all understand.
"What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
"They are merely conventional signs!
"Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we've got our brave Captain to thank
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best—
A perfect and absolute blank!"
Labels: humor, Lewis Carroll, Middle Grade, Poetry