Nibbling on Eric-Shabazz Larkin’s A Moose Boosh (+ a recipe!)

April 29, 2016September 6, 2017 ~ jama ~ 51 Comments

“Poetry is food for the soul, food is poetry for the tongue. So read a delicious poem that makes your soul feel young.” (ESL)

amuse-bouche: a small complimentary appetizer offered by the chef just before dinner.

a moose boosh: an appetizing little poem about food to be read aloud just before dinner or any time at all.

If you invite Brooklyn-based author/illustrator and creative director Eric-Shabazz Larkin to a party, chances are good he’ll bring a tasty, fresh-baked poem as a gift.

Keep your eye on him as he enters your kitchen, cause he’ll break out in some very cool dance moves. If dinner is part of your plan, Shabazz will gladly read his poem aloud — a literary amuse-bouche sure to whet the appetite and elicit instant happiness. What better way to set the table for a juicy meal to please and tease both tummy and tongue?

In A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words About Food (Readers to Eaters, 2014), Shabazz celebrates growing, eating, cooking, and sharing food with 40 fun, zippy, zesty, sassy, spirited mostly rhyming verses served up with playful “vandalized” photos. Some, like “Slippery Noodles,” will have you beboppin’ to its joyous rhythm as it promotes some serious slurping:

Twirl them, whirl them,
slop them, slip them,
twist them, curl them,
whip them, flip them,
sip them, slurp them,
chew them, beat them.
But you must use a fork
when you eat them.

Slurp it up, mash it up
cut it up, clap it up,
look it up, pass it up,
turn it up, flap it up,
shake it up, make it up,
smell it up, love it up.
But do not use your hands
when you eat it up.

As with all of Shabazz’s poems, a good read aloud maximizes flavor. Can’t sit still. Don’t be surprised if your totally amused mouth thanks you for the invigorating workout.

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celebs on sandwiches, because why not?

April 26, 2016April 23, 2016 ~ jama ~ 5 Comments

So, what are you having for lunch today?

To tempt your pop art palate, nibble on Jeff McCarthy’s Celebs on Sandwiches.

Aren’t we always hungry for celebrity anyway?

sandwichmiley — Miley Cyrus on a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese.

sandwichbarack — Barack Obama on a Tuna Melt.

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[review + recipe + giveaway] Will’s Words by Jane Sutcliffe and John Shelley

April 15, 2016April 6, 2024 ~ jama ~ 53 Comments

Back in my salad days, I crushed on Will Shakespeare. In high school I swooned over Romeo, in college I hissed at Iago’s villainous schemes, and as a starry-eyed rookie teacher did my best to convince my students that when it came to reading and studying the Bard of Avon, their labours of love were never lost.

I wish there had been a book like Will’s Words (Charlesbridge, 2016) to share with them then. The naysayers who struggled with and questioned the practical value of Shakespeare’s seemingly antiquated language could have seen (much to their amazement), how Will’s words weren’t so archaic or esoteric after all. In fact, many phrases have since become household words, regularly popping up in modern everyday speech. I like to think Will Shakespeare has made poets of us all. 🙂

Author Jane Sutcliffe begins by confessing to the reader that she fully intended to write a book, in her own words, about the Globe Theatre and Shakespeare’s wordsmithing and storytelling genius in penning “the most brilliant and moving plays ever written.” But aye, there’s the rub: no matter how hard she tried, Shakespeare’s words kept bumping into hers — they were simply everywhere and impossible to ignore. So she did the next best thing: wrote a marvelous book cleverly incorporating Will’s colorful turns of phrase in her narrative. As an added treat — since when it comes to Will’s words it’s impossible to have too much of a good thing — she explains what his phrases mean and cites the plays in which they appear.

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hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Margarita Engle

April 14, 2016September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 15 Comments

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of the Newbery Honor verse novel, The Surrender Tree, Pura Belpré Award-winning verse memoir, Enchanted Air, and Charlotte Zolotow Award winning picture book, Drum Dream Girl. Other honors include multiple Pura Belpré Medals, Américas Awards, PEN USA Award, Jane Addams Award, Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor, and International Reading Association Award.

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: Café con leche (coffee with milk), made with a mixture of Cuban espresso (Café La Llave brand) and Italian roast (Starbucks brand). I love REALLY strong coffee, but I only drink it in the morning, so it doesn’t keep me awake at night. Maybe that’s why I do most of my writing early, before my brain runs out of caffeine.

* Cultural Note: many Latino children are introduced to café con leche at the age of two, so why aren’t there any children’s books about coffee? If I thought I could get it published, I would write one! My Abuelita (grandma) used to scold me for not serving my son coffee when he was little. She said, “¡Es un hombrecito, necesita su café!” (He’s a little man, he needs his coffee!)

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir (Atheneum, 2015); Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music, illustrated by Rafael Lopez (HMH, 2015); The Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes, Bird Artist, illustrated by Aliona Bereghici (Two Lions, 2015); Orangutanka: A Story in Poems, illustrated by Renee Kurilla (Henry Holt, 2015). Forthcoming: Lion Island: Cuba’s Warrior of Words (Atheneum, August 2016) — a verse novel about the nonviolent freedom struggle of indentured Chinese laborers; and Morning Star Horse/El Caballo Lucero (HBE Publishers, Autumn 2016) — a middle grade historical fantasy about Cuban children at San Diego’s Raja Yoga Academy.

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOKS: Three Golden Oranges by Alma Flor Ada, illustrated by Reg Cartwright (Atheneum, 2012); Apple Pie 4th of July by Janet Wong, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine (Harcourt, 2012); Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Hayelin Choi (Readers to Eaters, 2014).

☕ Visit Margarita Engle’s Official Website

☕☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: Short poems related to the [above] photograph of myself drinking café con leche beside my father’s painting of my mother picking pomegranates. She was wearing sandals, but he left them out, and I have chosen to speculate about the reason.

Coffee Tanka

each hot sip
of café con leche
carries me
traveling back to childhood
watching as grownups savor time

Pomegranate Tanka

my father
paints her harvesting pomegranates—
barefoot
the reality of shoes
too modern for this lush garden

☕☕☕ CAN’T GET ENOUGH: Enjoy this book trailer for The Sky Painter!

☕☕☕☕ STILL THIRSTY: Speaking of Margarita’s parents, she explains the romantic story of how they met in the first of this series of videos:

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hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Joyce Sidman

April 5, 2016September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 12 Comments

Joyce Sidman, winner of a Newbery Honor and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Children’s Poetry, lives in Minnesota, where she greets the changing seasons every day with her irrepressible dog Watson. She loves poetry, chocolate, and using her macro lens to capture tiny moments of beauty. (Pictured here with her favorite thistle mug from Crail, Scotland)

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: I start out the day with a mug of organic fermented Pu-erh tea, which makes me feel like Popeye drinking his spinach: strong and healthy! Then I switch to my husband’s delicious coffee, which he makes before he leaves the house. It keeps me alert through my writing session.

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESS: My most recent book is Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold, illustrated by Rick Allen (HMH, 2014). Forthcoming: Before Morning, illustrated by Beth Krommes (HMH, October 2016).

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: My favorite food related book is Jam: A True Story, by Margaret Mahy. I discovered it when my kids were small, and still love it. Very funny. It’s about canning!

☕ Visit Joyce Sidman’s Official Website.

☕☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: Check out this marvelous interview by Mackin Educational Resources. Joyce talks about her books and shares some of her beautiful nature photography.

☕☕☕ CAN’T GET ENOUGH: Enjoy this video of Joyce reading “The Ants,” which is from her book Ubiquitous.

☕☕☕☕ STILL THIRSTY: You must watch this excellent video, “Winter Bees: Beyond the Book,” in which Joyce, illustrator Rick Allen, and editor Ann Rider discuss the process behind the creation of this beautiful multiple award-winning picture book. Love the winter walk with Joyce’s dog Watson, watching Joyce create a winter poem with a group of children, and seeing how Rick makes his wood engravings (masterful work!). And there’s cookies and cocoa. . . :).

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