Our Life in Books, 11.29.10
Directions to the Winter Blog Blast Tour '10

Poetry Friday: Dad's Cooking!

John Ciardi's poem "Mummy Slept Late and Daddy Fixed Breakfast" begins, "Daddy fixed the breakfast./He made us each a waffle./It looked like gravel pudding./It tasted something awful[,]" and goes on to describe an utter fiasco. The poem is one of many included in the "I'm Hungry!" section of The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, an anthology that I highly recommend, especially for parents to share with kids nine or so and younger.

Quite the contrast to the scene Ciardi depicts is Stay at Stove Dad, the blog of my friend and former colleague John Donohue. Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP newsletter recently said, "[John's] recipes are great for parents who, like him, are thrifty shoppers and like for their families to try lots of different kinds of food without getting too complicated." His recipe for pancakes with fruit sounds delicious—and as unlike gravel pudding as you can get.

Next May will bring Man With a Pan: The Culinary Adventures and Misadventures of Fathers Who Cook for Their Families (Algonquin Books), which John edited. He told me that it's a recipe and essay collection featuring works by the likes of Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, Mark Kurlansky, Jim Harrison, and Stephen King. Nice!

Finally, among the many "best of 2010" lists popping up is Smithsonian Magazine's guide to new children's books about food. The Food & Think blog sets out an enticing array of picture books, chapter books, and cookbooks.

For more poetry talk, see the Poetry Friday roundup at the always lovely blog The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Kids' book mentioned above

The Random House Book of Poetry for Children:
A Treasury of 572 Poems for Today's Child
Selected by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Arnold Lobel
Random House, 1983

This book is still on the shelves at bookstores and in libraries, of course.

Comments

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Squee! Thanks for the heads up about John's new book. MUST see! Heading over to his blog now.

Jama, won't that book be fun! I think you'll enjoy John's blog, which offers up all kinds of good ideas.

In this house, Dad is the better cook. Honestly, that was true when I was growing up too. My mom did most of the cooking, and I think she didn't enjoy it one speck, but she kept us alive. Now I'm going to go think about what cooking...

Hi, Blythe. Thanks for stopping by! And congrats on your nomination for the Morris award.

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