Baked Chicken, not Beef Stew

I needed my fix. It was going on… well, too long… since I’d been in the classroom as a part of Behind the Book, a non-profit I’ve been volunteering with for the better part of six years and this year I’m co-chairing its annual fundraiser.

Behind the Book inspires NYC public school students to love reading by bringing authors and their books into classrooms and creating rich, innovative literacy programs. Our programs take place in underserved public schools and are part of the class curricula.

So I went to PS 375 in East Harlem the other day for a workshop with a second grade class who’d read, “Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis” by Robbin Gourley.

Edna Lewis inspired a generation of young African American chefs and ensured traditional Southern foods and preparations would live forever.

Ms. Lewis was the author of three seminal cookbooks that, to quote The New York Times, February, 2006, “revived the nearly forgotten genre of Clarinex while offering a glimpse into African-American farm life in the early 20th century.” Her cookbooks include: The Edna Lewis Cookbook (1972), The Taste of Country Cooking (1976) and In Pursuit of Flavor (1988).

The children had read Robbin’s book and traveled to a local garden, and now they were to transcribe notes about their favorite family meal, how it’s prepared, cooked, shared and enjoyed, from a (form) template to a book. And it was our job to coach them through it (read: have the children maintain focus long enough to complete their book… before lunch.)

The children had eight blank pages — one for the table of contents and seven for the content — each page would get a sentence (or two, again, if focus was maintained) answering a question about their favorite family meal.

I had the great fortune to work with Malik and Jamari, although I could tell that all these kids were amazing. Malik’s favorite food was BBQ Chicken, Yellow Rice and Vegetables (yes, vegetables). And Jamari chose Beef Stew and Chinese food (although the latter didn’t really qualify so we ignored it).

In order to keep the children’s attention, their teacher added a competitive angle to the project — whoever finished their book first got a copy of Robbin’s book. And the race was on. To spice it up a bit, I hummed a tune after each completed page — sounded something like a cross between the ESPN jingle and “Shave and a Haircut Two Bits.” The kids loved it, and it got them really rolling.

Malik and Jamari were flying. Racing through their assignment they were neck and neck for the lead. And at one point, Jamari even waited for Malik to finish his page so they could proceed together. All for one….

As we approached the five minute warning, I started sifting through their folders and I noticed a page of thicker stock. It was a pre-printed cover page. I looked at Malik’s and it said “Chicken, Yellow Rice and Vegetables” by Malik. I grabbed Jamari’s folder to make sure all his pages were in order and I found his title page: “ Baked Chicken and Rice” by Jamari.

Er. Umm.

Jamari, it says here your favorite meal is Baked Chicken and Rice. Is it?

Yes. It’s Baked Chicken and Rice.

Well, then why does your information sheet say Beef Stew, and why have you been writing about Beef Stew?

You know that real adorable smile and shoulder shrug you get from children when they simply can’t explain it? Yeah, me too. And I got one. It’s moments like that that keep me coming back. (And now raising money for the organization.)

For what it’s worth, you might be asking yourself why I didn’t check the folder before we started the session. And that would be a good question. Because I just reached for the template and the blank pages? *shrug* ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’ll own it, too.

If you’re interested in volunteering with us, please reach out to us at: http://www.behindthebook.org/join-us/volunteer/. And if you’re interested in supporting us, you can donate at my personal link: https://www.classy.org/fundraiser/1014217.