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Has reading a book ever provoked such an emotional response that you’ve actually started crying? A few of the books that have cause me to tear up include Charlotte’s Web, Bridge to Terabithia and The Velveteen Rabbit.

But none have done me in like Samsara Dog by Helen Manos (illustrated by Julie Vivas). This Kane/Miller chidren’s book leaves me weeping, choked up and completely unable to talk leaving my children to wonder, “What the heck is wrong with mommy?”

Samsara Dog is based on the Buddhist concepts of Samsara and Nirvana (basically reincarnation and reaching enlightenment). The story follows a dog from his various incarnations where he learns about love, life, death and dying.

Samsara Dog lived many lives.
Some of his lives were long.
Some lasted only a few days.
Dog never remembered them.
He lived each life as it came,
until he learned the most
important lesson of all.

I found the concept of dog reincarnation a bit hard to understand since my beliefs are more in the Western Judeo-Christian realm. Even so, I appreciated the unique way Manos told a story of a dog learning not to fight and be vicious, but to trust, take care of, and love someone. Even if you don’t share a belief in reincarnation, you should be able to appreciate these universal life lessons.

So get out the tissues and be prepared for a lovely, enlightening, and touching story to share with your children. Afterwards, you may want to cheer yourself up with a treat. How about some raspberry peach cobbler?

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Summer is nearly over and school’s about ready to begin. I noticed that my readership dropped this summer. At first, I thought it was because you were all running off to the beach. But now I’m guessing that turning My Readable Feast into a mostly writing blog, with some book reviews and recipes, wasn’t as successful as I hoped. Lesson learned. (And if you have suggestions about what you’d like to see at My Readable Feast, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.)

So no more writing prompts and Tuesday haiku. Instead, let’s go back to what this blog was all about - books and food!

With that said, are you looking for some school lunchbox ideas? Last year around this time I posted information on:

• The art of the bento box - how traditional Japanese lunch boxes can inspire our school lunches
• What’s in your lunch box? - with a recipe for Rachel Ray’s Turkey and Black Bean Tostadas

Frankly, I’m a bit concerned about what to feed Nathan this year. Some of the old standbys, like fruit rollups, are going bad in the pantry. Plus, Nathan has become a “pasta-terian” this summer - he doesn’t eat meat or vegetables, only noodles and eggs.

Luckily FamilyFun.com has a whole section devoted to Back to School food ideas. I guess there’s always Nathan’s favorite PB&J, but how can I make it more exciting? How about peanut butter and jelly stars? This looks like a great way to sneak in some whole wheat bread into Nathan’s diet, too.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Stars

Ingredients:

1. 2 slices white bread
2. 2 slices whole wheat bread
3. Peanut butter
4. Jelly
5. 1 1/2-inch star cookie cutter

Directions:

This is different than the directions on the FamilyFun.com site. From the comments it seems too hard to spread the peanute butter and jelly after you cut and swap the stars. Maybe making the sandwiches first, then swapping mini-star shaped sandwiches would be better? I’d have to experiment. Maybe try a simpler shape like a circle would be easier. It’ll be messy, too, but the results will certainly be cool.

1. Make two PB&J sandwiches by spreading peanut butter on one wheat and one white piece of bread. Then spread jelly on one wheat and one white piece of bread. Make one wheat sandwich and one white bread sandwich.
2. Carefully use mini cookie cutters to cut puzzle pieces out of white and whole wheat sandwich. Swap the whole wheat shapes with the white, then press them into place.

Elizabeth Kennedy at About.com has a great post up about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling with a zillion links to various J.K. Rowling interviews, and Harry Potter reviews and resources. If you’ve finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I just did yesterday) and have some questions about the book, this is the place to find your answers.

Without giving any spoilers out, I must say Deathly Hallows was brilliant. Plus there’s no possible way for Rowling to ever be pursuaded to write another one. With what happens in this book, it’s just impossible to make another Harry Potter novel as exciting as the other ones. (Not sure I’m making sense, but then again, I don’t want to give anything away.)

Finally, I’ve been reading lots of YA (young adult) fiction this summer. (More on that later.) I admire Rowling, unlike so many YA authors out there, for making her books as detailed, multi-layered, and hard to read as they are. She challenges kids to come to her level.

That must be one of the many reasons why kids love her children’s books so. Rowling doesn’t write down to them, but let’s them soar with Harry and his friends. Thanks J.K.