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Ziba Came on a Boat by Liz Lofthouse and illustrated by Robert Ingpen is a story of a young girl who escapes from war-torn Afghanistan on a refugee boat. As they travel, thoughts of home “washed over Ziba like the surge of the sea washing over the deck.” She remembers playing in the cold mountain air with her cousins, her mother weaving a rug, and her father telling stories.

As the boat tosses and turns, Ziba thinks about the fighting in her village and how she and her mother left running through the night. Falling asleep, she dreams about the smiling faces that will welcome them to a land without fear and with freedom.

The book is based on stories the author heard from Afghan refugees she works with in Perth, Washington. Kane/Miller Publishing recommends Ziba Came on a Boat for ages 5 to 9.

During Ziba’s journey, she looks back at she and her aunts preparing a meal, flatbread cooked in a tandur. But you can make flatbread, called noni, in a conventional oven, too.

Noni Afghani (Afghan Bread)

Ingredients:

1. 1 1/2 cup warm water
2. 1 package (1/4 oz, 7 grams) dry yeast
3. 1 tablespoon sugar
4. 4 cups flour
5. 1 teaspoon salt
6. 1/4 cup corn oil
7. 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon water
8. 1 tablespoon black cumin seed

Directions:

These small oval breads are baked in a Tandoor, the stove of the region. The Afghan oven is above ground and is made of rounded bricks, which are heated. Noni are shaped and put on the hot bricks for fast baking.

1. Mix 1/2 cup of warm water, yeast, and sugar together and let it proof for 10 min. When froth appears, sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of flour on top. Let it continue to proof for 5 min more. The froth will rise quickly.
2. Put flour in a large mixing bowl & sprinkle salt over it. Make a well in middle of flour. Add oil and yeast mixture. Stir this in and add small amounts of water until you have produced a soft, moist dough that can be handled.
3. Knead well for 5 minutes. Then put dough ball back in bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for 1-1/2 hours. Punch down dough.
4. Divide dough into 8 equal parts and roll each part into a ball. Roll each ball into a oval shape 6 to 7 inches long and1/2 inch thick. Draw tines of a fork in 3 lines along length of each noni for a decorative design.
5. Paint each noni w/egg mixture and sprinkle with1/2 teaspoon black cumin seeds. (Caraway seeds may be substituted if black cumin seed is unobtainable.)
6. Put noni on an ungreased cookie sheet or pizza stone. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are brown.

Why not add some music to your books and food mix? Bruce Springsteen’s latest release, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions features his interpretation of 13 traditional songs associated with American folk music icon, Pete Seeger. It’s an album that both parents and children can enjoy, even if they aren’t Springsteen fans.

Several of the Springsteen/Seeger songs deal with figures from American folk tales and history - Jesse James, John Henry, the Erie Canal, and the Buffalo Gals. Another song - Froggie Went A-Courtin’ - is from a classic American story.

Some terrific books to go along with We Shall Overcome are:

• Frog Went A-Courtin’ - For ages 4 to 8, this Caldecott Medal winner in 1955, this book beautifully illustrates the courtship and marriage of the frog and the mouse. The song has its origins in England and Scotland with the music having its origins in the southern Appalachian mountains. Author John Langstaff makes one story from the different versions sung around the U.S.
• Amazing Impossible Erie Canal - (Grades 2 to 6) This gorgeous book by Cheryl Harness discusses the need for the canal, the politics of its planning and building, the workings of the locks and canals, and the pride people took in the accomplishment of this engineering feat including the celebration that marked the completion of the canal in 1825.
• That Dancin’ Dolly - (preschool through grade 1) - The traditional American song “Buffalo Gals” is adapted into book form with cut-paper illustrations. A little gal invites her favorite redheaded dolly “the one with the hole in her stockin” to dance, and the two friends leap and frolic till the moon comes up. This is a great book to bring the Buffalo Gals song from the Springsteen album to younger children.
• John Henry - For ages 4 to 8, this charmingly illustrated tome by Bill Balcziak retells the tale of John Henry, the African American railroad legend known as the Steel Driving Man. The story of John Henry goes back more than 130 years and originated with the miners drilling the Big Bend Tunnel of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in West Virginia.

The book’s index gives facts around the story, a glossary, and where to go for additional information on the web, through the mail, and in the library. Also included in the book is a recipe for Southern cornbread.

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The Little Red Hen is a classic tale of the hardworking hen and her lazy friends cat, duck and rat. Young readers will love the retelling of this classic tale, with its rhythmic, repetitive language and lively illustrations.

The Little Red Hen is in the Usborne First Reading series, written especially for children who are learning to read, and developed in consultation with Alison Kelly, Senior Lecturer in Education and reading specialist at Roehampton University.

Not only will the story and illustrations inspire any beginning reader, but so will the bread baking activity presented in the back of the book.

So in conjunction with “Salad Week” over at ClubMom blog Cooking with Whine, I offer a little bread to go along with Becki’s A Series of Unfortunate Events inspired mango salad (from Book 10 - The Slippery Slope).

The Little Red Hen’s Guide to Making Bread

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb (3 1/2 cups) white bread flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 1/2 teaspoon sugar
4. 2 teaspoons dried yeast or 1 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
5. 1 cup warm water
6. 2 Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

Directions:

1. First, the Little Red Hen sifts the flour, sugar and salt through a sieve into a large bowl. Then she stirs in the yeast.
2. The Little Red Hen then mixes the water and oil. Next she pours them into a hollow in the middle of the flour.
3. She uses a wooden spoon to mix everything together until she’s made a soft dough.
4. Then, she puts the dough onto a floury work surface and kneads it for 10 minutes.
5. Next, the Little Red Hen puts the dough into a clean bowl and covers it with plastic food wrap.
6. She leaves the bowl in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours. The dough rises to twice its size.
7. She kneads the dough for a minute to get rid of any air bubbles. Then, she puts the dough in a buttered loaf tin.
8. The Little Red Hen leaves the dough for an hour in a warm place. Just before the hour is up, she turns on her over to 425 degrees F.
9. She puts her loaf on the middle oven shelf and leaves it to bake for 35-40 minutes.
10. She leaves it to cool on a wire rack. Then she eats it all by herself!

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