Wow!  I can’t believe we are already in our last week of the Summer Reading Adventure! I hope you all are getting some great ideas for activities and hopefully learning about some new books that you don’t have yet. Here’s a recap of the books we’ve featured so far:

Week 1: Tickle Monster

Week 2: The Rainbow Fish

Week 3: Skippyjon Jones

Week 4: A Bad Case of Stripes

Week 5: The Little Engine that Could

Make sure to visit the linky above for some wonderful book-related ideas and inspiration!

~Sharing today is Denise J. Hughes at Denise J. Hughes~

And now for our book adventure: Cook-A-Doodle-Doo!

T H E S T O R Y

Cook-A-Doodle-Doo! is a fun story that follows four friends as they try to make strawberry shortcake.

Turtle reads the recipe.
Iguana fetches for ingredients.
Rooster stirs the mixture.
And Pig patiently waits his turn as the professional taste-tester.

The story chronicles their misadventures in the kitchen as they misconstrue the meanings of certain words.

When the recipe calls for flour, Iguana runs outside to pick a petunia.
When the recipe says to cut the butter, Iguana finds a pair of scissors.
When the recipe requires a beaten egg, Iguana goes for the baseball bat.

My kids delight in the puns and the wordplay as these crazy characters try to make a strawberry shortcake.

T H E A D V E N T U R E

After reading this story together, we love to make the recipe on the last page.

To make strawberry shortcake from scratch, you’ll need:

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup of milk
• 3 to 4 cups of sliced strawberries
• 1 cup of whipping cream, whipped

Each of my kids takes a turn measuring, pouring, and stirring. (This recipe doesn’t require an electric mixer. You stir the ingredients by hand.)

I preheat the oven to 450 degrees and lightly grease one round cake pan.

To make the shortcake:

• Sift the dry ingredients together.
• Cut in the butter to create a crumbly mixture.
• Add the milk the egg.
• Stir until the mixture resembles an even consistency.
• Spread the dough in the pan.
• Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.

To make the topping:

• Wash and slice the strawberries.
• Whip the whipping cream until fluffy.

Once the cake is cool, spread the whipped cream on top and add the strawberries.

It’s an afternoon project that creates fun memories for the kids. And the whole family enjoys eating something they’ve created from scratch.

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Denise J. Hughes lives in Southern California with her husband and three kids. Denise has been collecting children’s books for 17 years, and she loves to share the treasure of children’s literature whenever she can. She teaches college composition at Azusa Pacific University and devotes her blog to helping others deepen their faith and develop their craft. Denise has an M.A. in English.

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Now it’s your turn, LINK AWAY!

• Pick your favorite children’s book
• Blog about the book inspired activity, recipe or craft
• Stop by and link up!
• The post can be old or new – any and all book related posts are welcome!
• You can link up below or at Mom on Time Out and your post will be visible on both blogs.
• Add our button below to your post so others can join in on the fun!
• You don’t have to but we would love to have you follow along here or Facebook!
• At the end of our 6 weeks ALL of you who have linked up and have our button on your post will be eligible to win a copy of Tickle Monster by Josie Bissett!

Click on frog to link up!