Food Rules

Thank you. Thank you. Thank YOU!

Your encouraging comments in the last post brought me out of my funk. You guys are the best!

After several months of being on the wait list for Food Rules at the library and still being #39 in line, I broke down and purchased this book from B&N. It is an excellent, easy read, and I love the simple rules like, "If it's the same word in every language, it's not food (Think Big Mac, Cheetos)."

I finished reading The Book Thief last night. And what happens to Himmel Street at the end, well, I find it constantly in my thoughts today. Narrated by death (but not in a scary way at all), the book takes place in Nazi Germany and follows the story of a young girl.

Anyone read The Book Thief or Food Rules (or one of Pollan's other food books)?

Capture the memory of your child's playful imagination and encourage his pre-writing/reading skills with this fun, easy project.

Tell your child you'd like to make a book together. All he has to do is what he always does -- make up a story and act it out with his toys. Take a picture of each scene as you go along, and write down word-for-word your child's description of what is happening.

Print the photos (my printer was low on ink so the pics turned out sickly, but Ian didn't notice), and let your child help cut and glue them to each page in the book.

Ask him for a title to his story. Try your best not to make suggestions! Let the ideas in this book be totally his. Enjoy reading the story over and over together and save it forever as a memory of your child's thoughts and interests.




Other book ideas . . .

Encourage number sense and recognition
Group your child's toys into certain numbers and take photos of each grouping. Draw a giant number on the left side page and glue the photo of that number of objects on the right side page. Example: left side: [3], right side: [Text reads, "Ian has 3 Power Rangers" under photo of the Power Rangers.] For young preschoolers, stick to numbers 1-10.

Encourage alphabet memorization
Follow the same steps as in the number book, using letters instead on the left side and a photo of an object starting with that letter on the other side. Example: left side: [S], right side: [text reads, "Superman" under photo of Superman]. Variation: help your child find magazine pictures of things starting with certain letters. Your child can cut them out and glue into the book on the correct pages.