About the Holiday
July is designated as a time to recognize the creativity and dedication of professional chefs and anyone who makes the world a more delicious place. The way to celebrate this month is a no-brainer! Visit your favorite restaurants, cafes, and bakeries—and discover new ones!
How to Bake a Book
By Ella Burfoot
A little girl decides to bake a book. She gathers her ingredients and begins: “I’ll break some ideas into a cup. / I’ll beat them, whisk them, mix them up.” To the dough she adds words both small and big then feelings, colors, and pictures for flavor. To set the scene she drops in “watery words,” choosing from “splish, splosh, splash, or sprinkle”—or would “glug and gurgle” or “squelch and twinkle” be better? She cuts out characters of all kinds and sets them aside to play.
Image copyright Ella Burfoot, courtesy ellaburfoot.co.uk
With the dough set, the girl puts the lid on the bowl and waits while it rises. When it’s ready, she rolls it out, finding out what her story is all about. She lays the crust in the pan, letting her characters jump right in. Next she stirs up “the middle, the action, the filling” and adds a “spoonful of good and a pinch of bad” to get the pot bubbling and the plot to thicken.
A dash of good grammar finishes it up, and then the ending is pressed down tight. A cover design and a glaze of happiness are brushed on to make the book shine. Finally, the book is ready for baking. It comes out of the oven baked looking tasty. The little girl cuts a big slice and gets to reading her delicious book.
Image copyright Ella Burfoot, courtesy ellaburfoot.co.uk
Ella Burfoot’s delightful recipe for writing a captivating book will enchant children who love to read and may spark an interest in writing a story themselves. The rhyme is as light and fun as chiffon and the homey ideas as satisfying as a warm chocolate cookie. Kids will love poring over Burfoot’s bright, colorful illustrations. The girl’s baked-up pages burst with dragons, knights, princesses, animals, kites, and more. There’s even a witch who’s having a tough time staying on her broom. The kitchen is a cook’s and crafter’s paradise with pantry shelves well stocked with jars of periods and capital letters among the monster flakes, alphabet spaghetti, porridge oats, and other writerly puns and ingredients.
A reading of How to Bake a Book would be a fun lead-in to getting out the pots, pans, and paper and creating an original recipe/story.
Ages 3 – 6
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2014 | ISBN 978-1492606512
To discover more books by Ella Burfoot visit her website!
National Culinary Arts Month Activity
Don’t Whisk Losing Your Page Bookmark
The author’s of your favorite books have cooked up such fantastic stories that you don’t want to risk missing a word! To make sure that doesn’t happen, use this culinary-themed bookmark!
Supplies
- Printable Don’t Whisk Losing Your Page Bookmark
- Poster board
- Glue
Directions
- Print your bookmark
- Glue it to the poster board
- Cut out the bookmark
- Slip it into the book you’re reading now!
Picture Book Review
celebratepicturebooks.com 