TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS

BIBLIOGRAPHY
George, Kristine O’Connell. 2001. TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS. Ill. by Kate Kiesler. New York: Clarion. ISBN 061804597X.

PLOT SUMMARY
A young girl travels to the mountains with her family. She describes what her adventures are like through the eyes of a child. You are given a sense of what it would be like to row a boat, see a moose, pitch a tent, and toast marshmallows. When it comes time to travel home, the young girl brings a rock home as a promise to return again soon, and she keeps her favorite flannel shirt in her bottom dresser drawer to always remind her of the smells of the mountains.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This 30 piece collection of poetry forms the perfect family story of a summer camping trip to the mountains. The young girl feels at home in the outdoors, and enjoys the various adventures she has with her family. In the poem The Best Paths, she writes that “the best paths hide themselves until the right someone comes along.” The poems express common things that a family would do or see while camping and exploring their surroundings. The poems allow students to envision themselves camping, even if they have never been before.

Kate Kiesler uses inviting oil paintings to visualize each of the poems. She creates a cast of characters in the perfect setting. The continually changing vistas offer a sense of surprise as the pages are turned. In Sleeping Outside, you get the feeling of camping high up the sierras among the trees and stars. The brightness and closeness of the stars enables the reader to feel as though the stars are in reach. The illustrations portray a realistic experience of a family adventure high in the mountains.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
Reviewed in School Library Journal: “The poems are varied and inventive, replete with marvelous images and universal truths.”
Starred Review in Booklist: “fine collection brings the outdoors up close…direct, satisfying poems that will engage kids at school, across the curriculum, or at home.”
Reviewed in Horn Book: “The pleasure and surprise of going camping are conveyed in thirty brief poems.”

CONNECTIONS
*Invite children to write a poem about camping.
*Other engaging books of poetry about the great outdoors:
Asch, Frank. CACTUS POEMS. ISBN 0152006761
Bates, Katharine Lee. AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL. ISBN 0399238859