‘Tis the season to be…eating! Here are some calorie-free cookie stories.
These brief cookie stories are seasoned
with facts about libraries. The sources for
the research are in this A.L.A. reference book. I see that when this post appeared, it wiped out information from earlier this month on the problem of e-books prices and conditions so that libraries can offer them. Please also go to my post, "Smart Cookies Read."
Facts like: 58% of adults in the U.S. have
public library cards.
In my illustration,I love the
dreidel cookies along with the other holiday cookies. Dreidels are tops,
often homemade, and are traditionally played at Hanukkah. Here's a virtual dreidel you can play by yourself. This is the song traditionally sung about dreidels. These jolly fellows
stick to the part about the clay dreidel. On YouTube you can find other
verses added to make a longer song (also parodies). It’s
not traditional, but you may enjoy the expanded versions. Similarly storyteller/author, Eric Kimmel,
often expands folklore to make original stories like his The Magic Dreidels.
I’m not sure if dreidel cookies are
traditional, but I am sure that Americans go to school, public and
academic libraries more than three times more often than they go to the movies.
Elijah tales are traditionally told,
especially at the various Jewish holidays, as he is found in the Talmud,
folklore, and even in Islam and other faiths. Foodies
should love hearing about his taking refuge from King Ahab by staying with the
Widow of Zarephath. He's an uninvited guest who wants food. There's
not sufficient food to keep her and her own son alive! Elijah tells her
God won't let their supply of flour or oil run out. She feeds him the last
of their food, and Elijah's promise miraculously comes true. There's more
in 1 Kings, especially chapter 17, but that and his being taken bodily up to
heaven in 2 Kings 2 led people to set a place for him at feasts in case
he should appear. . . so save some cookies.
An
excellent collection of Elijah stories is in
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| The Mysterious Visitor; Stories of the Prophet Elijah | by Nina Jaffe |
There are more public libraries than McDonald’s in the U.S. –
a total of 16,766 including branches.
Another religious figure for this
time is St. Nicholas. In the U.S. we condensed his name from Sinterklaas
to Santa Claus and his red suit comes from the red robes of a bishop. St.
Nicholas was a bishop known for his generosity to the poor, especially tossing three bags of gold over the wall into the yard of three sisters for marriage dowries, saving
them from probable prostitution. His feast day is celebrated on December
6.
In the colonial days of the U.S. it
is said that in Albany an expert Dutch baker named Van Amsterdam was known for
his Sinterklaas cookies until he upset an old woman. She asked for a
dozen. He gave her 12, but she insisted on 13. When he refused, she
rebuked him for his lack of the saint's generosity. A year passed and
nothing he baked was worth eating. By the following Dec. 6 he had just
enough to make his trademark cookies one last time. Some say in a dream
the saint talked to him about generosity, so when the woman reappeared he gave
her the extra 13th cookie forming the first Baker's Dozen (and restoring his baking abilities).
Here are two excellent versions of
the tale. (The photos of various book covers all originated on Amazon.com where you may read their summaries and find ordering information. Any "Click to look inside" comments only work on the Amazon site.)
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| by Aaron Shepard |
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| by Heather Forest |
Americans spend nearly three times
as much on candy as they do on public libraries.
Of
course Gingerbread Cookies don't have to be made as Gingerbread Men or made
into Gingerbread Houses, but there are so many wonderful versions. If you
feel sorry that the cookie gets eaten, why not try the tasty illustrations and
two versions by Jan Brett, the Gingerbread Baby and Gingerbread Friends. I also noticed a Gingerbread Thematic Unit by Daphne Ransom. Haven't tried it yet, but it's an appetizing idea.
Americans spend over 18 times as much money on home video
games as they do on school library materials for their children.
For baking cookies and more, I’m also
reminded of the Scottish
tale about the Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies. When fairies kidnap a
fabulous baker she insists they bring her the ingredients, then the utensils
and other tools, then her purring cat and snoring dog because it helps her
mixing rhythm, then she's too worried to bake properly without her husband and
baby. She whispers to him to step on the cat's tail. Cat yowls, dog
barks, baby cries, husband shouts for dinner and fairies send her home because
of the noise, but from that time on every week she leaves baked goods (o.k., we’ll
say just cookies) on the entrance to the fairy mound for them. They pay
her handsomely, but never again try to keep her a prisoner. I love telling this as an audience
participation tale, but there’s also a picture book version and once again it
features retelling by Heather Forest.
Americans check
out an average of more than 8 books per year, but their per capita tax cost is
about the cost of an average hardback book.
While thinking about cookies and the
various religious traditions, why not also include the “wise fool” character loved
throughout Islamic countries? While he's spelled many different ways and also goes by many names, I especially enjoy the Turkish versions about the Hodja as they often include a bit of historical background.
Timur
(sometimes called Tamerlaine) makes the Hodja his new tax collector. The previous collector had to eat his
receipts since they were unsatisfactory to Timur. The Hodja has his wife make thin
cookie dough and writes his records on them, making it better later than eating
paper. There are many anthologies and online stories about the Hodja. (Don't stop with just the one online source linked here as he has many fans and his stories appear in many places.) As for books, my first exposure came from the works of Alice Geer Kelsey and Barbara Walker, but, like cookies, I didn't stop there and I hope you don't either.
Taxes may not be tasty, but here's a library value calculator, showing libraries are a bargain, so pass the cookies and enjoy these sweet cookie stories by borrowing them from your local library.
