Tag: quarantine

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Read Like a Kid: Picture Book Edition

wiredwordsmith

I’ve been a long-time fan of children’s and YA books. Now that I’m at home reading more than ever while simultaneously clinging to my sanity, working kid and teen books into my rotation has added some great variety to my bookshelf. Below are my picks for fun picture books to enjoy!

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Strega Nona and Quiet, Tomie dePaola

It’s a wonderful time to explore (or revisit) Tomie dePaola’s work as he unfortunately passed away a few weeks ago. As a kid, I adored all of his Strega Nona books which are magical, funny, and ultimately heartfelt. Strega Nona means grandmother witch in Italian and these stories feature this sorceress’s adventures in her Italian village alongside lovable sidekicks like Big Anthony and Bambolina.

dePaola’s work features a variety of cultures and time periods. Quiet is a more recent book that readers can especially appreciate now. In Quiet, a grandfather teaches his grandchildren about sitting calmly outside together. Anyone who’s beginning to practice mindfulness or wants to introduce meditation to little kids should read Quiet. Who couldn’t use a little more calm today?

Be Quiet and We Don’t Eat Our Classmates, Ryan Higgins

I love the sense of humor Higgins’ books portray! Be Quiet is excellent for slightly older kids who still like having a story read to them (or are starting to read to the grownups). The book features Rupert, a mouse who aspires to create a ‘very serious and artistic’ picture book with no words. Unfortunately, his friends cannot stop talking! Much of the humor relies on wordplay so it could be a fun addition to at-home English classes.

Younger kids can enjoy Higgins’ We Don’t Eat Our Classmates. Penelope the dinosaur learns about going to school and how to be empathetic in this cute tale. Look for its sequel, We Will Rock Our Classmates, to be released July 7th.

Don’t Feed the Coos, written by Jonathan Stutzman and illustrated by Heather Fox

Don’t Feed the Coos is a crowd-pleaser that follows the structure of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff. If you feed a flock of pigeons, hilarity and chaos will ensue! The story pairs delightfully with Fox’s illustrations, admirably capturing the antics of those pesky coos! Stutzman and Fox have previously collaborated professionally on the Llama Destroys the World books and are spouses as well!

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We Could All Use a Story Time Right About Now

wiredwordsmith

In my pre-quarantine life, one of my jobs was working in the children’s section of a bookstore. I usually did story time at least once a week for half an hour. I would read three or four books interspersed with some songs to help hold the kids’ attention. The pleasure of looking at gorgeous illustrations, the delight of reading a complete story in one sitting, is wholly unique. Trying to remember that kid perspective of curiosity and trying to figure the world out is a very valuable one for my adult self to experience. At story time, everything gets put aside (except for maybe some of your favorite snacks). At story time, you focus on being with the group and enjoying a few books.

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Vogue.com published an article last week called “I Can’t Read a Book Right Now—And I Am Not Alone” by Sophie Vershlow (https://www.vogue.com/article/why-cant-i-read-books-right-now). Personally, reading is one of the few things keeping me sane right now, but I can relate to only being able to engage with certain kinds of books. I’ve been making a bit of an event of picking a new book (why not?), selecting four or five titles and reading the first few pages to see what best captures my attention. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most serious ‘literary’ fiction fell to the bottom of the pile each time. Mystery, horror, YA—these genres helped immerse me in a world apart from the COVID-19 quarantine.

So just like you don’t have to be a bastion of productivity right now, you also don’t have to tackle that list of ‘Great Books’ you’ve been carrying around for years if you don’t feel like it. Maybe instead you plan your own story time. Maybe instead you read a comic book (“excuse me, we call them graphic novels now”). Maybe instead you reread that picture book you loved as a kid.

I think there’s a reason so many people are reading picture books on social media feeds currently  (other than helping frantic parents and caregivers). Reading stories out loud is fun. Reading picture books is fun. Sharing stories is fun. Whatever your story time looks like right now, don’t apologize. Just please enjoy it (and make sure you have snacks).

Next week I’ll recommend some of my favorite children’s books for little and big kids alike. Let me know if you’ve got any favorites that have been keeping you company during quarantine.

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Comfort Food Pop Culture

wiredwordsmith

Well, here we all still are three weeks into a quarantine with the end too far away to contemplate and still retain sanity. Although I’m finding things to occupy my time, I’ve entered a state of brain fog. I’m fairly certain that Jeopardy and People magazine’s crossword are all that’s keeping my little gray cells from going on strike.

With full kudos to those who feel equipped to tackle Gravity’s Rainbow and the like right now, I find myself seeking the pop culture equivalent of a mug of tea. One sector of TV that helps accomplish that is food programming.

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Girl Meets Farm, Food Network, Sundays at 11 am EST, streaming on foodnetwork.com

Molly Yeh’s cooking show presents a delightful take on modern Midwest cuisine. Rather than whipping up entrees dictated by gourmet trends in a kitchen the size of an entire apartment, Yeh cooks family dinners in a modest kitchen on she and her husband’s farm. Her casseroles and desserts will remind you of your grandparents’ cooking (if you were lucky enough to have foodie grandparents) in the best way possible. Yeh also often features her take on the Chinese and Jewish cuisine she grew up eating with her family.

The show’s ability to evoke the cozy domesticity of previous generations while avoiding hackneyed Stepford Wives stereotypes is rare. Yeh’s excitement and energy come across as genuine rather than manufactured and represent a new generation of millennial home cooks.

Last week, I made her taco hot dish for my quarantine crew. It was a) elegantly simple b) featured easy-to-find ingredients (even with quarantine-era grocery supplies) and c) completely delicious.

Somewhere South, PBS, Fridays at 9 pm EST, streaming on pbs.org

Vivian Howard, best known for A Chef’s Life, writes and hosts a new PBS show about the cultural connections forged through food. Each episode focuses on a single dish. For example, last week Howard explored many different kinds of hand pies.

What impressed me most about the show was Howard’s inclusive version of today’s American South. The first episode moved from sweet, fruit-based hand pies like applejacks to pepperoni rolls created by Italian-American immigrants in West Virginia to various kinds of empanadas made by Latinx home cooks and chefs across the South. My favorite section featured three generations of a family making turcos, a Mexican-inspired South Texas empanada, and explaining the complex roots of their family and this dish. Warning: this show will make you hungry! Have some snacks ready!

The Big Family Cooking Showdown, streaming on Netflix

Featuring a cooking tournament among everyday British families, The Big Family Cooking Showdown highlights home cooks’ talent and passion for food. Early episodes feature two family teams competing in three challenges with only one team moving forward. My favorite part about the initial round is that instead of cooking only on the set (a gorgeous converted barn) the families must prepare and serve a meal to the judges in their own home. Teams that make it into the semi-finals then face all new challenges like a dessert round where judges select the dish they must make. Bonus points: the show is co-hosted by Nadiya Hussain, a Great British Baking Show winner!

In addition to the typical cooking show fare of recipe chat and food history, you get the added bonuses of a house tour and family drama. There is some sniping among families and between teams early on but that decreases as the competition progresses. If quarantine’s got you tired of your own family togetherness, swap it out for someone else’s family dynamics!

(Disclaimer: Season two of this show ditched everything I loved about it. I didn’t finish more than one episode of the second season.)

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Quarantine Distractions

wiredwordsmith

Finding myself with some extra time on my hands, I sat down to write and . . . didn’t really know what to say. Offering pop culture reviews or recommendations just felt too insignificant in light of everything happening with COVID-19. After the first week of quarantine, though, I noticed how much I enjoyed seeing everyone’s lists of what they’re distracting themselves with right now.

So, in that spirit, (with a smidge of “what else do I have going on right now?” thrown in) below are some podcasts I enjoyed over the past week.

In times of stress I try to avoid being alone with my thoughts too much. Having a funny, reassuring, or just different, voice can help minimize anxious spiraling thoughts. Podcasts are excellent for adding another voice in your head because you can multitask while listening and the blessing of headphones means you don’t have to subject other members of your quarantine posse to your listening choices.

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Staying in with Emily and Kumail

Staying In is made directly in response to COVID-19 but is done so with humor and rationality as opposed to abject panic (deep breaths, everyone). In addition, money raised by the podcast’s ads will help those impacted by COVID-19. Kumail Nanjiani is a comedian and actor and, his wife, Emily V. Gordon is a former therapist and writer. (They co-wrote the film The Big Sick and Nanjiani starred in it.) The podcast gives advice and coping mechanisms for working from home and quarantining with loved ones (both things the couple has experience with as they explain in the first episode). I’ve always enjoyed this couple’s sense of humor and their tips, coupled with a warm and funny tone, delighted me.

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown

Unlocking Us was supposed to launch at South by Southwest last week but, luckily, is still being released on podcast streaming apps. Brené Brown is a research professor who reached mainstream audiences with books like Rising Strong and Braving the Wilderness as well as her TED Talk on vulnerability.

In the podcast, Brown plans to “reflect the universal experiences of being human, from the bravest to the most brokenhearted.” Her first episode is just Brown talking directly to the audience (although it seems most episodes will feature interviews). The first episode also reflects on COVID-19, but puts it within the framework of how scary and vulnerable it is to experience something for the first time. What I love about Brown’s work is that she explains concepts she’s learned through research and then illustrates them with interesting, funny stories from her own life. Although overall more serious than Staying In, Unlocking Us provides ideas you can dig into and potentially use to navigate the weird days we’re currently experiencing.

I Said No Gifts!

Comedian Bridger Winegar hosts a conversation between himself and another comedian based on the (faux) premise that he’s forbidden them to bring a gift. Inevitably, (at least in the two episodes currently available) the guest does bring a gift which Winegar unwraps and they discuss. They also answer listeners’ gift-related questions. This podcast is much more ramble-y than Unlocking Us (particularly because the gift talk and questions only constitutes about fifty percent of the run time) so if you prefer a more structured conversation this may not be for you. However, I found both episodes to be laugh out loud, entertaining distractions.

What’s got you distracted in a good way this week?