Marjorie Winslow
illustrated by Erik Blegvad 2010
I've noticed that left to their own devices, kids will start making mud pies or "cooking" with whatever can be found in the yard- leaves, sticks, dirt. I find Charlotte's concoctions on the patio or in the tree house. Sometimes the neighbor kids come over and there's pots of leaf stew with spoons sticking out or sandy casseroles. Madeleine and Henry used to do this too. I remember acorns were a particularly favorite ingredient in their dishes. (And Madeleine just reminded me that onion grass was a staple.)
This absolutely adorable book is written with that child chef in mind. It's dedicated to "Susan and Kate, former doll chefs, who knew better than to taste for seasoning and, therefore, grew up."
It opens with:
This is a cookbook for dolls. It is written for kind climates and summertime.
It is an outdoor cookbook, because dolls dote on mud, when properly prepared. They love the crunch of pine needles and the sweet feel of seaweed on the tongue. The market place, then, will be a forest or sand dune or your own back yard.
Erik Blegvad does the drawings. And though children's imaginations certainly don't need the intervention of this book, it's still fun to read and full of cute ideas.
Charlotte's "tea"
Other books illustrated by Erik Blegvad:
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