story time with snacks: popcorn by Frank Asch and a last-minute party treat idea!

I like to make a few special treats for the neighborhood kids coming to my house for trick-or-treating.  This year, I am a little crunched for time, so I tried to pick treat recipes that were quick and easy-peasy. These popcorn hands are so simple.  They take minutes to make, and kids love them.  Today, we read a classic Halloween book, Popcorn, by Frank Asch and made some spooky popcorn hands for our visitors.  

Popcorn is sure to get some giggles from the little bears in your life.  Bear decides to invite all of his friends to a Halloween party at his house.  Each guest is asked to bring a snack to share, and every one just happens to bring corn kernels for popping. Bear puts all of the kernels in a giant pot and underestimates how much popcorn will come from the kernels.  Pretty soon, the entire house is filled with popcorn!  

If you want to make your own popcorn hand treats, you will need:

• clear plastic gloves
• your favorite candy (we used skittles, but m&ms or candy corn would be great too.)
• popcorn
• ribbon

  The candy goes in the fingers first to look like finger nails.  Then stuff the glove with popcorn.  You may have to crush the kernels a little bit to get it into the finger sections.  Tie it closed with the ribbon. That's it!  Don't you just love something that looks more impressive than it was to make?  I do! I do!  

cute new tale of friendship: stick and stone by beth ferry and tom lichtenheld

"Meet Stick and Stone.  They stick up for each other, because friends rock!"

Stone is lonely.  Stick has no friends.  They meet each other and love having fun.  This unlikely pair learn what friendship is all about - fun playtime but also supporting one another, sticking up (stick sticks up, get it?) to bullies, and helping each other through difficult times.  The words in this tale are light and easy for the youngest of readers to understand.  It has a nice rhyming melody that makes the story playful and fun.  Stick and Stone do a lot of active tactile play that keep young minds engaged.  My four year old LOVED the part where Stone splashes in a puddle and makes a loud splooshing sound. 

"Stone whispers, 'Gee, you stuck up for me!' 'That's just what sticks do. Friends do it too.'"

This darling story also teaches the lesson of bullying to an age group that probably is just starting to experience real playground interacting time.  Preschoolers are just beginning the life long lesson of socializing in happy, productive ways and not bullying ways.  Reading this story would make a great introduction to that conversation.  

I love the pictures by Tom Lichtenheld!  They have a sketched with color pencil quality that is bright and friendly with a lot of life and energy.  They add a lot to the story.  recommended reader age: 1-4 

a great chapter book to read on halloween night! bunnicula by james howe

I remember buying a copy of Bunnicula by James Howe in third grade at my elementary school's book fair and loving it.  Now I am reading the Bunnicula series with my third grader, and he loves it, too!  It is the story of a family who goes to see a movie on a stormy night and finds a strange but cute bunny rabbit without a home.  They take him back to their house and make him part of their family.  The story is told through the eyes of the family dog, Harold.  Harold along with the family cat, Chester, are put on guard when they notice this new, mysterious bunny doing some pretty strange things.  Who is this new pet? This mystery story is fun and spooky but not too spooky.  My third grader isn't a fan of any story that is too intense or scary, and he enjoys this.  It is the perfect balance of gentle suspense that kids will love. recommended age: 7+

your new favorite picture book: wolfie the bunny by ame dyckman and zachariah ohora

Meet your new favorite picture book.  I have owned my copy of Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman and Zachariah OHora for approximately one year, and in that time, my toddler has requested that we read this book 50,000 times.  He loves it!  

The Bunny family finds a surprise on their doorstep - a baby wolf tucked snugly into a basket.  Woflie becomes a part of the Bunny family, and Mr. and Mrs. Bunny love him like one of their own.  But Dot, their daughter, isn't so convinced given the fact that grown wolves tend to think bunnies are lunch rather than family.  In the end, Dot finds that Wolfie may be different but he is still her brother in his heart.

This book is perfect for preschool readers.  It has the simple sentence structure that toddlers enjoy and vivid illustrations that they love.  It has wonderful humor that had both of us chuckling.  There is also a great theme of acceptance of differences and diversity.  Dot learns that even though Wolfie is so different from her, he is still her brother.  Families come in all shapes and sizes, and sharing the same gene pool doesn't define who we consider our family.

recommended age: 3-7

Story Time Conversations:  

• What makes Wolfie and Dot different?  What makes them the same?
• Dot is afraid of Wolfie because he is different from her (and she is afraid that he will eat her all up!).  What happens that changes Dot's mind about her new brother?
• If you have a sibling, how are you alike and different from your sibling?   

10 kids books about school buses!

Happy Monday!  My kids are at school.  I'm doing the dishes and vacuuming the floor while listening to some of my favorite podcasts.  Do you have a favorite podcast?  I try to save some of my faves for when I clean the house to motivate my to clean the house because I don't exactly love to dust and scrub!  

I put together this list with back-to-school kids in mind, and I never realized how many classic books that we love revolve around school buses!  When my younger son was just starting to talk, he went through a school bus phase and would scream "bus! bus!" from his car seat whenever one passed us on the road.  School buses are nostalgic and cheerful with their sunny yellow paint job and wheels that go round and round.  Is your favorite bus book missing from the list?  Let me know! 

School Bus Board Book

By Donald Crews

Buy on Amazon

Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus

By James Dean

Buy on Amazon

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

By Mo Willems

Buy on Amazon

The Little School Bus

By Margery Cuyler

Buy on Amazon

The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs

By Joanna Cole

Buy on Amazon

The Wheels on the Bus (Pudgy Board Book)

By Jerry Smath

Buy on Amazon

Scholastic Reader Level 1: I Spy a School Bus

By Jean Marzollo

Buy on Amazon

Maisy Drives the Bus

By Lucy Cousins

Buy on Amazon

Richard Scarry's School Bus Box Set

By Richard Scarry

Buy on Amazon

The Magic School Bus - Microscope Lab

The Young Scientists Club, LLC

Buy on Amazon

story time + snacks: funfetti madeleines for madeline

Sometimes the story on the page sustains us, and sometimes, well, we need funfetti.  Yes, I did take the ever classy, oh-so-french madeleine cookie and white trash it up a bit with an entire bottle of star sprinkles thrown into the batter, and it was so good.  Normally, I don't like to clutter my kitchen cabinets with gadgets and pans that only have one task, so buying a cookie pan that would only be used to make one specific type of cookie didn't appeal to me.  However, the key to making the classic french madeleines is a madeleine pan.  Most madeleines start with a base of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter, but from there, they are quite versatile.  You could add chocolate chips, orange zest, dried fruit, whatever you want.   

Eating French cookies got us in the mood for everyone's favorite red-headed frenchie, Madeline!  I have loved Ludwig Bemelmans' stories about Madeline for as long as I can remember.  We think nothing of reading about a strong, independent female character today, but Madeline was doing her own thing long before it was the norm.  I found this volume of every Madeline book published into one collection a couple of years ago.  It's a treasure!  

Funfetti Madeleines

• one cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 stick butter
• one bottle colorful sprinkles (optional)

1. combine flour and baking powder in a bowl.
2. beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla until thick (this takes a couple minutes.)
3. fold flour mixture in to egg mixture.
4. melt butter and add to batter.  put batter in the refrigerator for about an hour. stir in sprinkles.
5. preheat oven to 325 degrees.  butter the madeleine pan.  fill molds of pan with batter.
6. bake for 10 minutes or until golden.

An Unexpected American Hero: Gingerbread for Liberty! by Mara Rockliff

Have you every heard of Christopher Ludwick, the real world German immigrant who aided the American colonist army by volunteering to bake and cook?  I must confess that I had never heard of this forgotten hero until I found this wonderfully cheerful book, Gingerbread for Freedom by Mara Rockliff with pictures by Vincent X. Kirsch.  When the American colonists were struggling to defeat the British in the Revolutionary War, Ludwick tells his wife that he is going to close his bakery and enlist in the war effort.  His wife laughs at him and reminds him that he is old and out of shape, surely of no use to the soldiers.  He goes anyway.  When he gets to the front lines, he sees that the soldiers are starving with no quality food to eat.  Instead of pick up a musket, he picks up his oven mitts and works night and day to feed the troops.  Ludwick wasn't just a war hero.  He was also beloved in Philadelphia for his kindness to the poor and needy.  To this day, the Christopher Ludwick Foundation gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to underprivileged children in Philadelphia each year.  This is just a feel good story that would be great for some Fourth of July reading.  

where the heart is: home by carson ellis

HI there!  Welcome to Booktomato!  Here is a book we have been reading for a while, and it is still one of our faves.  Check it out! 

Home by Carson Ellis is a simply worded but richly illustrated exploration of what home means to people both real and fantasy in vastly different places.  Some of my favorite picture book art work is layered in a way that the reader can explore and find new things every time the book is read.  Even though the story reads quickly with a single sentence on each page, we lingered looking at each illustration and finding tons of fun little details.  If you would like to see more of artist Carson Ellis' amazing work, visit her website at www.carsonellis.com.

This story was a great conversation starter with the kids.  They wanted to know all about different home styles and different ways of doing things around the world.  The fantastical homes got their imaginations primed for thinking up other make-believe places to live.  The moonian home with a window peering out to the lunar landscape was definitely our favorite!  The concept of celebrating differences definitely got our mind gears turning, and all because of this wonderful book!   

a thanksgiving feast with new england charm: cranberry thanksgiving by wende and harry devlin

Hi there!  Thanksgiving is around the corner, and we are drumming up the best seasonal picks we can find.  CONFESSION #1: I love a holiday, any holiday.  I go all out with decorations, themed books, food, whatever I can.  CONFESSION #2: The Starbucks around the corner is already playing Christmas carols, and the city has started hanging wreaths with red velvet bows on all of our light posts.  While I love, love the Christmas season, and while I love decorating our house for the holiday, let's hold our horses and revel in the season that is late fall and Thanksgiving.  I refuse to put up icicle lights while the leaves on my front yard trees are still yellow and orange!  While my beloved angel figurines and jingle bells cool their heels in storage containers for another month, let's find some good Thanksgiving reads!  Today's pick is Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin.  

This is the story of a young girl named Maggie who lives with her grandmother by a cranberry bog on the edge of a small and charming New England town.  While Grandmother prepares a marvelous feast for Thanksgiving, Maggie does her chores.  Both of them have chosen guests to invite to dinner.  Grandmother chooses Mr. Horace, a well-groomed, well-mannered man with a fancy coat and styled hair.  Maggie chooses her friend, Mr. Whiskers, a rough-around-the-edges sea captain.  Grandmother gets upset with Maggie for inviting him because he smells like fish and talks loudly.  By the end of the meal, Grandmother's opinion of Mr. Whiskers is changed, and readers learn not to judge a person based on how they look or how much money they have.   

This book is part of a series.  If you enjoy this one, check out the rest of the Cranberry series including stories for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines Day.  Each book comes with a recipe on the back that relates to the story.  On the back cover of the Thanksgiving book is the recipe for Grandmother's cranberry bread.  I have to be honest here.  I do a lot of baking, so I consider myself pretty capable in the kitchen.  I baked the cranberry bread recipe on the back, and well, it wasn't so great.  I hate to say something negative about this book because I loved the story, but I also hate the wasted time and money of a recipe or craft idea that isn't worth it.  If you want a great cranberry recipe, maybe skip the one provided by Cranberry and try something else.  I always have great success with Nigella's recipe for white chocolate and cranberry cookies.  They are delish! Here's a link to her recipe. http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/cranberry-and-white-chocolate-cookies-1723

come to our story time and get happy! happy by pharrell williams

Yes, it is true.  The infectiously fun song by Pharrell Williams has been turned into an equally fun picture book. The lyrics that were stuck in your head all last summer are paired with wonderfully active photographs of kids having fun.  

We started reading this together while sitting on the couch, and within a few pages, we were bouncing around and singing it instead. Honestly, I doubt Happy will win a Caldecott medal, but the pictures and rhythm of the lyrics together made our story time, well, happy! recommended for all ages. 

a tea party with a special guest: tea rex by molly idle

Who wouldn't love to attend a fancy tea party with a toothy, gigantic carnivore?  From Molly Idle, the author of Flora and the Flamingo, we have Tea Rex, the story of a young girl named Cordelia who loves big flowery hats, fancy tiny sandwiches, and perfectly sweet tea cakes. 

The juxtaposition of a proper and prim little girl and her proper and prim tea table with a t-rex crashing about and roaring loudly makes for a funny story.  This one would make a great holiday gift.  Molly Idle's stories have such great humor and tenderness, and her illustrations are always just perfect!  Age recommendation: 3-6

book of the day: the blue whale by jenni desmond

If you are doing your holiday shopping early, here is one that would make a great gift pick.  My kids love to ask a million questions about any subject they can think of.  The Blue Whale is a great book for the inquisitive.  It will answer any questions kiddos have about these fascinating creatures.  The beautiful pictures illustrate the ins and outs of whale anatomy and different whale species.  This is less of a story as much as a collection of facts that teach young readers all about whales. 

lewis carroll for littles! the jabberwocky board book by jennifer adams and alison oliver

Your memories of middle school English literature class either made you cheer or cringe at this post's title.  (I have always been Team Literature over Team Math/Science.  Give me a one million page paper to write any day over a math test.)  We all remember reading Lewis Carroll's epic poem, The Jabberwocky, seventh or eighth grade, and it might seem like an odd choice for a board book. But once you flip through this little book, you will realize that the whimsical, nonsensical rhymes are just perfect for young readers.  

The first time you read this to your toddler, they might look at you like you have gone a little crazy.  This ain't no mouse music, as Chris Strachwitz might say.  I have a feeling that once they catch on, this might be something your toddler will ask for a lot.  The great and unusual sounds in the language coupled with the playful graphic illustrations are a fun combination not to mention the sturdy board book pages make this a rough and tumble throw it in your purse or car seat, take to church, to the restaurant, to the store kind of book. 

a playful book by our country's children's poet laureate: the seven silly eaters by mary ann hoberman

We received this book as a gift many years ago and read its pages over and over again!  This is one of those that kids instantly fall in love with.  It has playful poetics, funny antics, and delightfully busy illustrations that engage readers of all ages.  This is the story of the Peters family: Mr. Peters, Mrs. Peters, and their seven children.  Unfortunately for Mrs. Peters, all seven of her darling children are very picky eaters.  (I wish I couldn't relate.) Only, with these kiddos, there is a catch.  None of the kids like to eat the same thing.  Each child likes to eat something completely different - one child will only eat freshly baked bread, one only applesauce made from the apples in their front yard tree.  Poor Mrs. Peters is left to scramble around the kitchen making seven individual breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. As the story goes on, Mrs. Peters gets pretty tired, to say the least.  Her children decide to make her a special birthday meal, and their mom is pleasantly surprised.  

The Seven Silly Eaters is written by children's poet laureate, Mary Ann Hoberman.  The illustrations by Marla Freeze just crack me up, and I think any parent that has struggled to get their kids to eat their dinner will get a laugh too.  Mrs. Peter's facial expressions are just so easy to relate to!  I love when picture books are written in poetry lines and rhymes.  Rhyming lines not only engage younger readers but also have shown in studies to aid in early literacy ability.  

book of the day: skeleton hiccups by margery cuyler and s.d. schindler

We're getting into the home stretch of the Halloween season.  Only ten days to go!  Hope you have your pumpkins carved and your pillow cases ready to collect all of that candy loot.  My nine year old is infamous for waiting until the last minute to decide what he wants his costume to be.  He still hasn't told me what he wants, and I know I am going to be left scrambling!  

Today's pick for good Halloween reads will get the giggle train rolling for your preschool readers and maybe your older readers too.  Skeleton Hiccups has knock-out illustrations by S.D. Schindler and quite a humorous story to go along with them.  Mr. Skeleton gets the hiccups and goes through all of the wives tale ways to get rid of them - holding his nose (or lack of one) while drinking water, holding his breath, being surprised.  It takes being scared by his friend Mr. Ghost to finally give those pesky hiccups the boot.  

story time with snacks! sweet corn mountain muffins with a story of mountain life

Story time is always better with snacks, right?  Today's snack inspiration comes from the classic tale of Appalachian life, When I Was Young In The Mountains by Cynthia Rylant with pictures by Diane Goode.  My copy has the Reading Rainbow stamp of approval on it which is probably where I first was shown this story.  Reading Rainbow is the best!  So many of my childhood reading favorites come from watching that show and then going out to find the book that was talked about.  When I Was Young In The Mountains is the story of a young girl who lives in the West Virginia mountains with her brother, grandmother, and grandfather.  The book gives a depiction of life during that time that is all at once happy, simple, and challenging.  The grandfather works in a coal mine and comes home covered in soot.  The grandmother makes beans, okra, and cornbread for dinner, and the kids jump in swimming holes to escape the summer heat.  

The recipe for this story time is inspired by all of that good cornbread that was and still is baked in Appalachian kitchens.  These muffins are sweet and buttery with a nice crumbly texture from the cornmeal.

Sweet Corn Mountain Muffins: 

ingredient list:

• one stick of melted butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 cup whole milk or buttermilk 
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup of your favorite yellow cake mix

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. whisk melted butter and honey until well combined. add egg and milk.  whisk again.
3. add dry ingredients.  mix until combined.
4.  line a muffin tin with muffin papers.  fill with batter. 
5. bake until brown on top (about 15-20 minutes)

I love to split these open and spread a little softened butter or jam, but they are also good just as they are.  Try them out! 

a new book with amazing imagination : the whisper by pamela zagarenski

The Whisper is a new release from artist Pamela Zagarenski, winner of two Caldecott honors, and it is beautiful.  A young girl loves to read and loves getting lost in her books.  She borrows a very special book from her school teacher, and when she gets home she is disappointed.  The book has no words, only pictures.  She has nothing to read.  Just as she is about to put the book back on the shelf to read something else, she hears a whisper.  It is coming from the book!  The whisper tells her that she has the ability to create her own stories, to imagine them herself with the pictures as inspiration.  She conjures up story after story from the book's illustrations.  The stories become so real that she feels that she herself is inside the story.  

I liked the way this story promotes interaction and engagement with art.  I didn't learn to really enjoy art on canvas until I was an adult, and it really is a skill.  Because the girl has to create stories from the picture she sees, she learns to observe a piece of art and appreciate details.  This would be great to read and then go to our local art museum.  We could practice imagining our own stories from the paintings we see.  I recommend this book for upper elementary school kids.  The pictures would interest any age, but the story is very lengthy and uses a vocabulary on the level of third graders and up.  Younger readers might not be ready to engage with this story.  

book of the day: i spy spooky night by walter wick and jean marzollo

18 days until Halloween! Here is another fun one to celebrate the season.  Everyone knows about the I Spy book series.  They have a million and one puzzling picture search books for kids of all ages (and their moms and dads, too) ranging in themes from holidays and seasons to school days and treasure hunts.  

This Halloween-themed I Spy is set in a spooky old haunted house where guests can wander from a moonlit midnight courtyard to a cobwebbed library to an evil laboratory.  Each scene comes with a list of objects for the reader to find hidden within the picture.  First reader to find all of the items on the list wins an extra handful of candy corn!  No?  Well, that's how it works in my house.  

one witchy witchy reading list

From the looks of my living room mantle, it is officially Halloween decorating time!  I take holiday decorating way more seriously than I should, and one of my favorite pieces is this poster of an old photograph or women dressed as witches. Putting it on display inspired me to gather some of my favorite Halloween tales with a witchy theme. 

• Only a Witch Can Fly by Alison McGhee and Taeeun Yoo

This artful story features a young witch who yearns to take her first flight but learns that flying isn't always easy.  The pictures have a wood-blocked quality and a seasonal color palette of black, orange, and green, creating a very Halloween mood.  The words to this tale are written in a poetic form called a sestina.  In this form, certain lines are repeated throughout the poem.  But don't let that turn you off thinking poetic forms are too much for a children's book.  The rhyming lines of this story are wonderfully engaging for young readers.  ages: 3+

• Old Black Witch! and Old Black Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon by Wende and Harry Devlin      

Wende and Harry Devlin were artists and writers of children's books in the 1950s, and their Old Black Witch series was incredibly popular.  I am embarrassed to say that I didn't know about the Devlins until a few months ago.  Since discovering them for myself, I have collected as many of their books as I can!  We read Old Black Witch last week, and it passed the test of entertaining both my older child and toddler, although it was almost too wordy for my three year old.  It is the story of a mother and son who want to open a tea room in a charming New England town.  They buy an old, run-down house as a fixer-upper.  When they start cleaning, they find an little witch lives there, and she's not too happy to see them get rid of her cobwebs and rats.  In the end, everyone learns to work together and live peacefully under one roof, and Old Black Witch even cooks her famous blueberry pancakes for tea room guests.  ages: 4+ (my 3 year old did sit through most of it and was interested in the story, but got restless towards the end.)

• Humbug Witch by Lorna Balian

This is a classic and sweet story written in the 1960s about a little girl parading through the house in her witch costume, doing her best to conjure up some potions and magic.  Preschooler readers will love this!  ages: 2-5

• Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Julia Donaldson is the wonderful creator of The Gruffalo character.  He books are always playful rhyming romps that kids go crazy for.  Room on the Broom is no exception.  A witch keeps losing her hat while flying on her broom.  Every time she lands to retrieve it, another animal friend asks for a lift on her broomstick.  By the end of the flight, the broomstick is loaded with all of her animal friends. ages: 3+

•   The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Spear

Most of my witchy list has appealed to a younger audience, so here is one for the YA lovers (upper elementary and beyond).  This Newbery award winner is the story of a young girl named Kit living in Colonial America during the time of the witch trials.  Kit is an outsider in her village, and she befriends a fellow outsider named Hannah.  When Hannah is accused of witchcraft, Kit must choose between her only friend and her own safety.  This story can get intense, so this is definitely a book I would save for fourth graders and up.  It is so worth it though!  Not only does is teach the reader about a time in our country's history, but it is a story that explores themes of morality, diversity, and strength of character.  ages: 10+

Only 24 more days until Halloween!  Better get your broomsticks ready.   

October is here! seed, sprout, pumpkin, pie by jill esbaum

Americans love our pumpkins!  If you are one in the minority and don't get what all of the excitement about a squash is for, well, I don't know what to tell you.  I love it all.  Give me a pumpkin muffin while sipping on a pumpkin spice coffee while lighting a pumpkin spice candle, and I'm having a perfect pumpkin party for one.  Today's autumnal pick is a National Geographic Kids production called Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie by Jill Esbaum.  NG Kids publishes a ton of great and educational reading material in a wide variety of topics.  If you want more Fall-inspired reading, they also offer a book on Apples, Leaves, and Pilgrims of Plymouth.  

In this pick, you can probably tell what the book is about from just reading the title.  On the very first page, you see pumpkin seeds being planted in the soil.  You follow those seeds until fruition and see all of the many different uses for pumpkins.  The pictures are what makes this a great pick because like most work from National Geographic, the photographs are excellent are really work to teach kids about where our jack-o-lanterns come from.  This is a perfect pre-pumpkin patch trip read.  Ages: 2+

Check back on the blog throughout October for more fun Autumn and Halloween book picks!