Tuesday, March 6, 2012

A Cookbook Story

SOLC  Day 6 of 31
As I scanned my cookbook shelves for the volume that held the recipe for what I wanted to make for dinner last night, I had a flashback to slices from last year. Several people stacked books so that the titles on their spine told a story or made a poem. As my ingredients lay scattered on the counter, I started pulling volumes that might work together. As the pile starting growing on the dining room table, I stood back, rearranged, re-stacked and stood back again. I did that so many times it occurred to me that I was editing my pile much as I would a slice! I found I could keep rephrasing the titles together to tell even a different story.


A little self-serving spine-note: As I scanned the pile that was arranged, I realized that from the many cookbooks in my collection, I had pulled three cookbooks that are close to my heart. These three I had worked on and marketed as fundraisers for non-profit organizations for which I had been a part. I guess these old friends just naturally fit into my life and my just-for-fun stacking story.


6 comments:

  1. What a fun slice. I did book spine poems with my students a couple of years ago and loved the process. I had not thought about using the idea with cook books though, so I enjoyed that twist.

    It is interesting to think about shuffling them around as revisions. It is so nice to be able to draw students' attention to the revision process in a way that they might not have considered.

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  2. I love book spine poems. Sometimes I do them with my class but it takes a lot of working putting all of those books back! I love how you described your editing process.

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    1. Another way you could do this without the putting of books back, would be for them to peruse the book shelf and write down the names of books in a list. Cut the list apart and arrange the titles. Easily revised and no book returns.

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  3. I liked the revision process of reordering the books. I did this type of poem using music titles in my iTunes library.

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  4. I've never done a book spine poem, but - wow - am I excited to do one! My favorite "lines" of yours are Picnics and Porch Suppers and that perfect ending, Chocolates on the Pillow. :) I also love Donna's idea of using iTunes titles.

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  5. Love this idea! May try it with students later...after the storm of testing passes.

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