Bibliography
George, Kristine O'Connell. 2001. Toasting Marshmallows. Ill. by Kate Kiesler. New York, NY: Clarion Books. ISBN 061804597X.
Plot Summary
In Toasting Marshmallows, Kristine O'Connell George created 30 different poems connected by the theme of camping. She opens the collection with a short poem about putting up a tent with the word arranged as a tent. The collection continues just like a weekend of camping would by describing creatures in the woods, adventures taken, sleeping outside, and the return trip home. Kids will feel like they are sitting by a campfire after listening to a couple of these poems.
Critical Analysis
George does a wonderful job describing a typical camping trip in her collection of poems, Toasting Marshmallows. Readers will discover an abandoned cabin in the woods, how to dress in a sleeping bag, what a moose eats for lunch, and that the best path is sometimes not known. George's writing is simple but enthusiastic. She will have everyone wanting to take a family camping trip.
Kate Kiesler's illustrations create the perfect camping atmosphere. The colors are bright and vivid and the pictures are realistic. She does a great job adding details to each illustration. For example the picture of the lake for the poem, Storm, versus the picture of the lake for Gone Fishing, reveal a lake during a storm and a calm lake. Her double page spreads add even greater depth to the poems. George's writing and Kiesler's illustrations are a perfect combination.
Reviews
Publishers Weekly: "Like their previous collaborations, The Great Frog Race and Old Elm Speaks, this volume by George and Kiesler is as delicious as a toasted marshmallow treat. Readers will definitely want S-mores."
School Library Journal: "A terrific idyll for summertime sharing, even for confirmed couch potatoes."
Connections
*Create a camping atmosphere and have the children sit around the "campfire" while you read the poems.
*Ask children to write their own poems based on their family trips.
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