What's for Dinner: Feed Me a Story
Written By Ann Hodgman

She's hungry for what Laura Ingalls Wilder ate — so dish it up. Have you noticed how book food always sounds more delicious than real food? And it has a strange way of staying lodged in the memory long after the details of a story plot have faded. As a kindergartener, I worshipped an anthology called "Let's Hear a Story." Two tales in particular I asked to be read to me over and over. The first, by Betty Van Witsen, was about a little boy who ate only cheese, peas, and chocolate pudding. One day, when he was playing puppy under the table, his brother dropped a piece of hamburger into his mouth. Instead of choking or getting yelled at for crawling around under the table (as you might have expected), the boy chewed wonderingly and said, "That's not cheese. And it isn't peas. And it couldn't be chocolate pudding." I had never been big on hamburgers until I heard that story. Instantly, they seemed luscious. Even boring old peas were more interesting with the Power of Literature behind them. Then there was dumb Mrs. Goose — the 1950s creation of Miriam Clark Potter — who was always getting confused. In "The Hatbox Cake," she made a cake for a holiday fair, put it into a hatbox, and then accidentally threw the hatbox onto a shelf in her closet, mashing the cake into a sort of pudding "all swoozed together." Drying her goosey tears, she went ahead and served it with ice cream, and of course all her animal friends loved it. A couple of years passed, and I started reading (to myself, mainly) "Little House" books and "The Chronicles of Narnia". Here too I drooled over the food. I realize now that Laura Ingalls Wilder, like most pioneer kids, spent much of her childhood longing for mealtimes, and that C. S. Lewis wrote the "Narnia" books during the height of food rationing in England. Their appetites found their way into the stories, and I longed to taste every dish they described.

Choosing the Right Books for Baby
Getting on the right reading track with your infant
By Anita Sethi, Ph.D.
Your baby finally seems ready to sit in your lap and read a book with you (meaning, he doesn't try to eat everything you put in his hands). How do you choose the right books? Less is more. Books that have simple story lines and just a few words per page work best at this age. He'll still love picture books, but as he gets closer to his first birthday, he'll also be able to listen to brief, uncomplicated stories. Improvise. Pages with bright, uncluttered drawings will leave you plenty of room for your own fun interpretations. Touch and feel. Books that invite interaction are entertaining for wee ones. Babies love old favorites like Pat the Bunny and newer versions that offer the opportunity to touch and name different textures. Similarly, books with peekaboo flaps, little holes for little fingers, and, especially, music will capture your baby's attention. Get in rhythm. Babies like rhyme, repetition, and books that carry the same theme throughout (think Dr. Seuss) because they can start to predict what's going to happen next. Books with interesting rhythms (like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom) are also engaging. Grab and go. Small books will be easy for those tiny hands to hold. Oh, and board books are best for your little destructo-lux.
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