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Ladies and gentlemen, shake your Planter’s peanuts can ’cause Scaredy Squirrel has won the Cybils award for Best Fiction Picture Book!

Yours truly was a judge, or should I say Lucie and Nathan were and I was just their proxy. Since our category was picture books, I really relied on their reactions to the various stories. They must have been good judges, because they agreed with us adults. As Anne, organizer of the Cybils, writes:

Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt (Kid’s Can Press) - This eponymous squirrel hits little kids and big alike right where they live: in the numbing comfort of routine and abject fear of The Unknown. This is a tiny book with a big lesson about bravery. Watt makes the most of each page, using repetition and exaggeration to hilariously dissect Scaredy Squirrel’s paranoia, from the minutiae of his daily habits to a tour of his emergency kit. When the unexpected finally occurs, the joke’s on all of us. Field-tested in libraries and living rooms and at bedsides by the judges, Scaredy Squirrel elicited the most giggles per page and requests for re-reads among a variety of age groups, including parents.

To learn more about the book or author Melanie Watt, visit the Scaredy Squirrel website.

So what kind of nut recipe would appeal to Scaredy Squirrel? Maybe a pecan roll. It would be the kind of high energy nut snack that would keep well, thus a good addition to his emergency kit. Personally, I loved these treats as a kid. We’d always get them in the Carolinas on car trips south from New Jersey to the Florida Keys. This recipe comes from HowStuffWorks.com and judging by the photo, it’s the real deal.

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Our next pick from Kane/Miller is Guji Guji by Guji Guji by Chih Y. Chen of Taiwan. Raised from an egg by Mother Duck, Guji Guji is content with his life as a “crocoduck.” Then one day, he meets up with three big, bad dudes who try to convince him that he is, like them, a duck eating crocodile! What should Guji Guji do? You and the kids will cheer as Guji Guji saves the day and his duck family.

For ages 5 to 9, Guji Guji is a terrific book for unconventional families - single families, gay families, step families, families with adopted or foster children, and families of mixed race or ethnicity. It shows that family is made up of folks who love and care about each other. You don’t have to look like each other or act the same way to be a family. Plus, it’s just a lot of fun to say “Guji Guji” out loud.

And while it was really tempting to give you a recipe for alligator bites or a little gator gumbo, I settled on Alligator Pie.

Alligator Pie
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1. 1 unbaked graham cracker pie crust
2. 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3. 8 ounces sour cream
4. 8 ounces Cool Whip
5. 2 drops of green food coloring

Directions:

1. Mix cream cheese and sour cream well. Add 2 drops of green food coloring. Fold in Cool Whip.
2. Pour into pie crust.
3. Refrigerate for 2 hrs. or overnight.
4. Extra Cool Whip can be added on top and cherries added on top.

(Green tea pie picture courtesy of Nibble & Scribble.)

Alligator pie, alligator pie,
If I don’t get some I think I’m gonna die.
Give away the green grass, give away the sky,
But don’t give away my alligator pie.

Alligator stew, alligator stew,
If I don’t get some I don’t know what I’ll do.
Give away my furry hat, give away my shoe,
But don’t give away my alligator stew.

Alligator soup, alligator soup,
If I don’t get some I think I’m gonna droop.
Give away my hockey stick, give away my hoop,
But don’t give away my alligator soup.

(Dennis Lee - 1974 Alligator Pie)

I came across children’s book publisher Kane/Miller as a judge at the Cybils, the 2006 Children’s and YA Bloggers’ Literary Awards. Out of La Jolla, California, Kane/Miller is a strong believer in using books to educate children about the world:

We search the world for books that through great stories and arresting illustrations enrich the lives and the imaginations of the children who read them. American children need to learn not just about the United States, but about the world. They need to know that they can share adventures, and fantasies and dreams. Because the children of the coming millennium will not simply be citizens of their own countries, they truly will be citizens of the world.

One of these stories is The Story of Cherry the Pig by Utao Yamada, a Japanese author. For ages four to six, the book teaches about self-esteem, identity, and value of friendship. Cherry the Pig is happy and content. Being a pig, she loves to bake and eat desserts every afternoon - lucky girl! Then one day, she hears a family of mice talking about her “incredible” apple cake. She thinks her apple cake is pretty incredible, too, so she enters  it in a bake-off at the Harvest Festival.

The Kane/Miller website features play pages with discussion topics and ideas, a word search, ideas for activities, and a recipe for a cake like the one in the book. (Cherry doesn’t share her recipes, but this one is almost as good!)

Cherry the Pig’s Winning Apple Cake

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups granulated sugar
2. 3 cups flour
3. 2 eggs
4. 1¼ cups light vegetable oil
5. 1 tsp baking soda
6. 2 tsp cinnamon
7. 1 tsp salt
8. 3 cups diced apples (whichever kind you like – crisp is best though)
9. 1 cup chopped nuts (unless you hate them)
10. 1 cup raisins (or dried cranberries, or dried cherries…)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then…put everything in a big bowl and mix it up with your hands. Bake in an ungreased 9 x 13 pan for an hour, and let it cool (if you can wait) before cutting.

I’ll be featuring more Kane/Miller titles this week, so stop on with a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

(Apple loaf picture courtesy of Delia OnLine.)

I finished reading all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books last month, including A Little House Traveler: Writings from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Journeys Across America, which was about her travels as an adult.

I highly recommend the Little House books, especially when your children are taking video games, fast food, and computers for granted. I loved reading about pioneer times, and the daily lives of the Ingalls and Wilders. I was especially interested in how they ate, since the gathering of food and cooking took of most of their time.

One dish that sounded especially appealing is Almanzo Wilder’s favorite fried apples and onions that is mentioned in Farmer Boy.  This should be easy to make on a modern stove, and would go well with a roast or a baked chicken. The recipe comes from The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Classic Stories. As Barbara M. Walker writes:

This is a “country” dish, seldom mentioned in cookbooks but recalled by many old timers. Some feel sugar is essential; others call it a “sin.” If you share Almanzo’s enthusiasm you might also like to try fried apples’n'onions with fried potatoes for breakfast sometime.

Fried Apples’N'Onions
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 lb bacon or salt pork
2. 2 lb yellow onions (about 6)
3. 2 lb tart apples, chopped (about 6)
4. 2 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

1. Fry bacon slices in 12-inch skillet until brown and crisp. Set aside on a warm serving platter. While meat is frying, peel onions, leaving stems to hold for slicing. To prevent your eyes from watering, hold a slice of bread in your teeth while you slice the onions asthin as possible. Discard stems.
2. Core apples and cut crosswise in circles about 1/4-inch thick. Apple skins help the slices hold their shape and add color to the dish, so don’t peel unless skins are tough or scarred.
3. Drain all but 1 Tbsp fat from skillet, then add onion slices. Cook over medium-high heat about 3minutes. Cover with apple slices in an even layer. Sprinkle brown sugar over all, cover skillet, and cook until tender, a few minutes more. Stir only to prevent scorching. Remove to warm plate with bacon slices.

Now off to the library website to reserve fellow ClubMom blogger Melissa Whiley’s books about Laura’s maternal grandmother, Charlotte Tucker Quiner Holbrook and her Scottish great-grandmother, Martha Morse Tucker. So many books, so little time…

I recently came across a wonderful children’s books and music company, Do-Re-Me & You*. They’re a division of Kindermusik International. Like Usborne Books they’re sold at home shows.

While their aim is to get kids enlightened and brightened by music, what’s unique about DRMY is that they combine books, music and activities to make reading more fun. In turn, this combination increases reading comprehension.

One of the books I’d like to recommend is the Noodles from Scratch. It’s a story of Sylvia Sheep and her friends whipping up a batch of noodles from scratch. Since the book includes a recipe, and comes with children’s cooking utensils, and an apron and chef’s hat, your child will see how everyone, no matter how small, can play an important role in the creative process.

It’s sold with a wonderful CD of jazz renditions of classic children’s songs, like the Muffin Man and Apples and Bananas. If you like New Orleans style jazz, you’ll like the CD as much as your kids. (The first track is a reading of the story - a very convenient way to enjoy the story while traveling in the car or cooking in the kitchen.)

DRMY’s quality is very impressive. The book is sewn, not glued. The CD comes in a very clever cardboard jacket that prevents the CD from acidentally slipping out. Also, the book, CD and cooking gear all come in a zip up, clear plastic bag. You can either store everything in it, or use the bag for something else.

Since DRMY is only sold through consultants, go through their website to find the nearest consultant to you. Or you may want to host a party to get free books.

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