#5 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2012
To behold her sweet, angelic countenance, it’s hard to imagine this author could be capable of such naughtiness. But I suppose it’s further testament of Linda Ashman’s brilliance that she was capable of creating the nastiest, most obnoxious brats in the history of alphabet books. Just one more reason to love love love the work of one of my favorite children’s authors working today.
You may wish to keep a safe distance from the “guest” Linda has brought along to the Potluck. Catastrophic Coco has stepped out of the pages of Linda’s cautionary collection of miscreants, M is for Mischief : An A to Z of Naughty Children (Dutton, 2008), which as some of you may remember, I was brave enough to review here.
Though I’m a little nervous at having Coco in my kitchen, I admit to finding her oddly irresistible, as I do the other 25 characters in the book, which is an unforgettable feast of alphabetical disorder. While Coco’s busy cooking up chaos, I’m going to fill up on Linda’s tempting dish.
Linda: I started writing this book eons ago when my son Jackson was two years old (he’s 14 now). He really enjoyed stories and poems about bad behavior, which gave me the idea for a collection about naughty kids. I thought it would be fun to organize it around the alphabet, using lots of alliterative words for each poem (I spent a lot of time with the dictionary while working on this project!). This one is Jackson’s favorite. In fact, he just recited it the other day.
Illustrations by Nancy Carpenter
Catastrophic Coco
Coco came to camp:
Cracked a compass, smacked a lamp,
Clogged a drain, cut a tarp,
Clobbered Curtis with a carp.Crumbled cookies, crushed a cake,
Crashed a kayak in the lake.
Called the counselor a cow.
Coco’s cab is coming now.Copyright © 2008 Linda Ashman
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Our family doesn’t eat meat, so I’m always looking for easy, tasty and relatively healthy recipes. I adapted this one from a recipe I found in Vegetarian Times magazine. It’s our standard potluck dish, and even avid carnivores seem to gobble it up. I’m not a precise cook, so these measurements are approximate. Feel free to adjust to your own taste, and to use other greens (it’s great with Swiss chard and kale, too).
6 Comments on making mischief with linda ashman, last added: 4/5/2012
Coco’s counselors are grateful that the cab is arriving not a moment too soon… hah!
I love the expressions on the faces of people who are interacting with Coco, like the kid who wants to brush his teeth. And the counselor, who is trying to be all mature even though he’s got arrows stuck to his bottom. And poor Curtis! Looks like a fun book to read with my tutee.
Curtis and the counselor may wish to cook Coco according to package directions. I, however, will try Linda’s recipe as suggested with orzo.
Love the naughtiness!
I have enjoyed her books so much over the years. Thanks for this! (And, mmm, pine nuts make everything better.)
More wicked fun for Poetry Month! Thanks for sharing, Jama and Linda. (And I might point out that our vegetarian kitchens are obviously safest – no carps lying about to use for clobbering.) The orzo dish looks delicious.
I know I will love the orzo dish, have used spinach & feta with pasta other times too. I have loved No Dogs Allowed in the past, & am happy to see this new and mischievous alphabet book. Thanks Jama and LInda for a good laugh this am.