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Great Christmas Reads for Middle Grade Readers

11/30/2017

Everyone loves a good Christmas read. Here's a short list of some of the best for middle grade readers.

The main character in Richard Peck's A Season of Gifts is twelve year old Bob, the son of a preacher and new kid in town, but the heart of this sequel to the Newbery Award winning A Long Way to Chicago and the Newbery Honor book A Year Down Yonder is the eccentric Mrs. Dowdel, an elderly, grumpy, gun-wielding woman who claims to have no interest in neighboring or in church, but has special gifts to share with both her neighbors and their new church.

Set in 1958, this heartwarming tale will remind you a bit of the innocence of the 1983 movie, A Christmas Story,

Children of Christmas has six stories by the Newbery Honor winning author Cynthia Rylant that are perfect for reading aloud, if you can control your emotions. Like Hans Christian Andersen's Little Match Girl, these poignant stories of lonely and desperate people are are guaranteed to make you cry, yet her exquisite writing also conveys the special joy of the season, Stories include one of a lonely man who raises Christmas trees, a stray cat who finds shelter, an elderly widower missing his wife, an Appalachian boy who waits each year for a train bringing gifts, and more.

How was Christmas celebrated in 13th century England? Nathaniel Marshall, the son of a knight, spends Christmas at Glastonbury Abbey in my novel On Fledgling Wings. Nathaniel waits to see if the legend that the animals will speak at midnight is true, wonders if the saints looking down on him from the church friezes are watching him, and gets to serve the roast boar at the Christmas day banquet.

But all too soon the peace of the season will pass, and Nathaniel will be embroiled in a battle for power at the manor house.

From Anna, by Jean Little, begins in Germany in 1933. Anna Solden is the youngest and clumsiest in a large family that treats her like the incompetent baby. After they immigrate to America to escape the worsening political scene, the family discovers that Anna can barely see. A new pair of glasses and a special class for the visually impaired helps her blossom into a proficient and confident child. The climax features a Christmas during the depression that might have been dismal had it not been for the pluck and cheerfulness of the family, and at which Anna comes into her own and proves to her family - and herself - that she can do anything she sets her mind to.

And finally, new this Christmas, Jingle Night, the second in The Anderson Chronicles, my series of contemporary novels for middle grade readers. Hector Anderson just can't get in the holiday spirit. He's loaded down with homework, and too broke to buy presents for his family or his heart throb, Sandy. Meanwhile, sister Chloe wants to be the angel of death in the holiday play, a role as silent as younger brother Calvin's been since the loss of his hand puppet, Mr. Buttons.

As if reenacting the game of Clue, an old inn that's usually quiet at Christmastime fills with a hodge-podge of quirky guests, all of whom seem to be searching for the answer to a different mystery, which they share in a series of fireside stories. Twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers' adopted son, turns into the sleuth who must solve them all. This story is part mystery, part folk tale, part ghost story, with enough twists and turns to keep even the most finicky reader entertained.

Little brother Stevie can only remember four words from the song he must sing at the Little Leapers Preschool Pageant, but he uses his slingshot to spread Christmas cheer, which Hec's perfectionist Father doesn't appreciate.

Hec is determined to solve his problems, and while Mom tries to eggnog and carol everyone into the Christmas spirit, he and his best buddy Eddie embark on a madcap plan to solve Hec's Christmas dilemma.

Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas and happy reading this holiday season.

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Garbage Soup

11/16/2017

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When Matt, my oldest son, was in 5th grade, his class held a "Pioneer Day." Students were to bring in homemade soups and breads, and supplies for simple crafts such as corn husk dolls. While December storms raged without (usually a bit of literary license in Albuquerque) they were going to hunker down in a classroom lit by kerosene lamp and candlelight, learn their lessons on chalk boards with chalk, play simple, non-electronic games, and live like Laura Ingalls Wilder had in Little House on the Prairie.

I decided that if my son was going to eat like a pioneer, he needed to learn how pioneers cooked. We would practice pioneer thriftiness in our own kitchen.

Very few people practice the kind of thriftiness that our foremothers practiced. We don't have to. We have supermarkets stuffed with everything we need. Most people I know start a soup pot with a can of broth. Mrs. Ingalls didn't have a supermarket at her disposal. She made her broth from scratch, usually using the tag ends of vegetables and leftover bones. I told Matt that we were going to make broth the pioneer way.

We started by placing the carcass of the Thanksgiving turkey into a large pot. Then we peeled carrots and threw the peelings and the tops onto the bones. We threw in the leafy tops and thick bottoms of a head of celery and the ends of an onion. We sliced the tops and bottoms off a tomato and threw them into the pot, too. We threw in some herbs and seasonings, covered it all with water, and left it to simmer for the better part of a day. By the time we were ready to strain the broth and pick the last bits of meat off the bones, the whole house smelled wonderful.

Matt proudly carried in his crockpot of soup of Pioneer Day, and he was so enthusiastic about what he'd learned that the teacher asked him to share the experience with the class. Not everyone was impressed. As he explained all the tag-ends that went into the pot, one mother's face expressed more and more horror. Finally, she walked over to me and whispered in my ear.

"Don't tell me your son made this soup out of garbage," she said. When I told her that peelings and ends were not garbage, and that yes, Matt had done exactly what he'd said, her expression moved from horror to revulsion. She quickly told her daughter to put down her spoon and pour the soup out. She then announced that her soup had been made the right way: it had come from a can. I had to chuckle. Didn't she know that the company who canned that soup had gone through the same process as Matt had to make their soup?

We continue to make what's become known as garbage soup every year after Thanksgiving, and it has never failed to satisfy our bellies and our. If you've never made it, perhaps this is the year to try a little bit of pioneer thriftiness.

General Directions for Garbage Soup

These are just general directions. Because garbage soup is made thriftily from whatever you have lying about, it will be different every time.

In the weeks leading up to soup making, save any vegetable odds and ends in a zip lock bag or plastic storage container in the freezer. Have three green beans left over from dinner? Into the bag they go! A spoonful of corn or peas, or a slice of onion? They are freezer bound!

On the day of soup making, peel some carrots and turn them into sticks or rounds. Package them and put them in the fridge for later eating, but add the carrot tops and peelings to the soup pot. Cut the bottom and the leafy ends off the celery and throw them into the soup pot, too. Cut the celery into nice sticks and put them in the fridge for later snacking. Slice the top and bottom off an onion and throw them into the pot. Dice or slice the onion and put in the fridge. Throw in whatever other odds and ends you might have lying around in the fridge - tomatoes on the verge of going mushy, for instance.

Add the leftover bones from a turkey (or chicken, or beef roast) into the pot. Add 5 black peppercorns, a bay leaf, and a teaspoon of salt, then cover everything with water. Bring slowly to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for several hours. (You can also throw all this into a crockpot and let it cook all day that way, too.)

When the stock tastes like stock, strain it through a colander into a large bowl. Press down on the celery and carrots to get all their juices out. Pick off any remaining meat and store it in the fridge. If your bowl has a lid, cover it and put it in the fridge. If it doesn't, transfer the stock to other containers.

When your stock is cool (I do this the next day) you can skim off any fat with a spoon and throw it away. At this point you can divide it up and store in the freezer for later use, or proceed to make garbage soup.

To make soup, put diced onion, carrots, and celery in a saucepan with a little fat (oil, butter, or some of the fat you just skimmed off the stock.) and cook until soft and a little brown. Pour some or all of your stock back into a saucepan. Add anything else you want. A diced up potato or two, or a handful of barley are good. When the vegetables are cooked, add any precooked things, like that bag of extra beans and corn you have in the freezer, or some leftover cooked rice, plus the meat you picked off the bones. Adjust seasonings by adding a little salt or a splash of worcestershire sauce. Enjoy!

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Great Christmas Reads for Middle Grade Readers

Garbage Soup

General Directions for Garbage Soup

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