Have you ever noticed that our most loved stories seem to have characters eating or preparing food? There’s something about reading about people eating together that makes them knowable and friendly - and “like me.” Carried away with the story line, you might not notice it happening, but sometimes it sneaks into your consciousness that it is time to stop reading long enough to go find a snack. Maybe that’s why there are sticky finger marks on some of my old books!
In the May/June issue of Horn Book Magazine writer Linda Sue Park (A Single Shard) says that food choices and habits are among the clearest ways to establish personality traits and idiosyncrasies in characters in a story. She writes, “It takes only a few deft brush strokes to delineate a character as fussy or careless or generous, with action rather than a static description.” Also it is an easy way to establish relationships and put people together and get them to talk to each other. Sit them down to a meal.
Think about it for a minute, and recall your own favorite books or ones you have been reading with your children. Do you remember Mrs. Beaver preparing tea for cold Lucy when she first wandered through the wardrobe into Narnia in a snow storm? That made me trust Mrs. Beaver. How about you?
Park says that Sydney Taylor’s all-of-a-kind family were so real to her as a nine-year-old that she desperately wanted to be Jewish and live through their Jewish food traditions. She got her Korean mother to help her make latkes so she could be like them! Her mother wasn’t sure what being kosher was all about, but she went along with Linda Sue’s idea.
The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder warms the heart of readers with descriptions of pancakes on cold winter mornings, served on a little blue platter. And the smell of fresh baked bread. Then there is Bread and Jam for Frances, the beloved story of a badger girl who eats nothing but bread and jam sandwiches for days, but comes up with a luscious description of what’s in her lunch pail—enough to stun a gourmet. And who wouldn’t think it was fun to have a cup of tea with Mary Poppins or the Mad Hatter?
We even get taken in by hunger scenes—stories of hungry children who live in poverty so that even a piece of bread is a treat. Especially we like the wonder of nothing to eat becoming magically a feast of good things to eat. Celebrations and victories are always marked with banquets. Harry Potter will tell you that. Even Hansel and Gretel eating the gingerbread with frosting roof in the middle of the forest has its own temporary happiness. All of which is to say that so much of life is defined by food.
Notice it in the children’s books you read in the days ahead and be glad for the joy and happy feelings found in a good meal! It’s what memories are made from.
M-mm. That makes me hungry!
August 19, 2009
