From Martin Luther King Jr. Day to New Year's Eve, celebrate through the year with cooking and reading. Also included are unusual observances such as Chocolate Week and International Friendship Month.

Features:

• Thirty books that feature food
• Science, art, or language activities
• Original recipes
• Safety tips
• Conversion charts
• Glossary of cooking terms
• Bibliography

Review: "...delightful and delicious book.", NJEA Review, March 1999

"Highly Recommended" — Library Talk

SAMPLE RECIPE

An Amish Christmas
by Richard Ammon
(New York: Atheneum, 1996)

The children enjoy the school program in their one-room school house and all the last-minute preparations for Christmas. On the farm, they still have to help with the farm chores on Christmas Eve, but they manage to enjoy the cookie preparations. Finally they enjoy the simple exchange of gifts and the rich warmth of visiting with family and friends on Christmas Day.

Snow Persons

Materials:

1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
Bowl
Spoon
Blue paper
Squeeze bottle such as a mustard container

Directions:
Mix the flour, salt, and water in a bowl. Pour into a squeeze bottle. Squeeze onto blue paper in the shape of a snow person. The figure will puff up as it hardens. Experiment with adding facial features with raisins or spices.

Related Books:

Ahlberg, Janet and Allan Ahlberg. The Jolly Christmas Postman. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991.
Bunting, Eve. Going Home. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.
Cushman, Doug. Mouse and Mole and the Christmas Walk. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1994.
Hegg, Tom. A Cup of Christmas Tea. Minneapolis, Minn.: Waldman House Press, 1982.
Sabuda, Robert. The Christmas Alphabet. New York: Orchard Books, 1994.

Peanut Clusters

Tools:

Double boiler
Measuring cup
Wooden spoon
Measuring spoon
Hot pad
2 cookie sheets
Waxed paper

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1 pound semisweet chocolate
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 pound unsalted peanuts

Steps: Makes approximately 32
1. Place the water in the bottom of the double boiler. Place on medium heat.
2. Place the chocolate in the top portion of the double boiler. Place top portion on the bottom portion of the double boiler. Melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally with the wooden spoon.
3. Add the corn syrup to the chocolate. Stir with the wooden spoon.
4. Stir in the peanuts. Blend thoroughly.
5. Remove the double boiler from the burner. Place on a hot pad on the counter top.
6. Line the cookie sheets with waxed paper. Spoon out 1 tablespoon of the mixture until gone onto the cookie sheets. Let cool.

Note: If the chocolate hardens before you can make all the peanut clusters, return the double boiler to the burner and heat until the chocolate melts again.