TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS: CAMPING POEMS

BIBLIOGRAPHY
O’Connell George, Kristine. 2001. TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS: CAMPING POEMS. Ill. by Kat Kiesler. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 061804597X

PLOT SUMMARY
This collection of 30 camping poems depicts the adventures of a family camping trip. The poems reveal experiences from pitching a tent and toasting marshmallows to pulling of the tent’s stakes and heading home. Readers will experience the great outdoors through the eyes of a young girl.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Toasting Marshmallows is a compilation of easy to read poems about camping and nature told through the eyes of a young girl. George will walk the reader through a poetic and peaceful journey by describing the sights, smells and sounds of the great outdoors. The use of imagery helps the reader feel like they are on a virtual camping trip. The poem Cave brings it to life: “The cave breathes icy and ancient, measuring time with slow drips that echo as water hits the granite somewhere deep in this cavern.” The Storm has the reader running for cover: “Late in the afternoon the wind begins to blow whistle-sharp, wet and cold. Whitecaps lace the lake. Uneasy, the birds dart from tree to tree as heavy black clouds rumble toward us, on oncoming train hauling a thunderous load of storm. Rain!” George cleverly formats the words on the page to take on the shape of the topic as in the first poem Tent, where the text is arranged in the shape of a tent. In the poem, Eavesdropping, the words are shaped like a quarter moon and describes how the moon pries into a camper’s secrets: “Tipping a slender silver ear, Moon tries to pretend she isn’t listening to our secrets.”

George also includes poems about animals a camper might encounter when walking through the woods such as a doe, a chipmunk, a moose, an owl as well as pesky mosquitoes and spiders. Other poems about sitting around the campfire and toasting marshmallows, sleeping outside under the stars, walking through off beaten paths, and hearing voices in the night, will take the reader on an adventurous nature journey.

Each poem is accompanied by a beautiful oil-painting illustrated by Kate Kiesler. The tones of George’s poems along with the pleasing images evoke a sense of quiet and peacefulness. Anyone that has been camping will appreciate and relate to the poems in this book.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
Review in Horn Book Guide: The pleasure and surprise of going camping are conveyed in eighteen brief poems. . . .Richly colored paintings enhance the verses.

Review in School Library Journal: George has penned 30 sublimely simple poems that capture the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations of a family's camping trip, from pitching the tent to pulling up stakes and returning home. All of the selections convey a child-focused sense of wonder as the campers explore the lakefront and surrounding terrain, enjoy the marvels of the natural world, relish meals round the campfire, and toast marshmallows ("This is art-/a time of serious reflection/as my pillowed confection/slowly reaches golden perfection"). The poems are varied and inventive, replete with marvelous images and universal truths. There's even a selection devoted to the "Mosquito Song." Each one is accompanied by a well-executed and evocative acrylic painting. Some of Kiesler's artwork sweeps across double pages to provide a dramatic vista-a meandering hiking trail, a field of wild mustard, a star-studded night sky-while other pictures reveal small, but equally telling details. In "Flannel," the child is shown holding her pine-, smoke-, and moss-scented camping shirt to her face, paired with the words, "I keep it hidden/in my bottom drawer-/where no one will find it/and wash away/my memories." A terrific idyll for summertime sharing, even for confirmed couch potatoes
CONNECTIONS
Students can plan a class camping trip by making practical suggestions on how to make it a positive and safe experience.

In order for students to get the s’more experience and to make it a more practical experience in the classroom, they can eat marshmallow flavored jelly beans.

Other books associated with camping:
Foster James, Helen. S Is for S’mores. ISBN 1585363022
Rey, Margaret. Curious George Goes Camping. ISBN 0395978351
Ruurs, Margriet. When we Go Camping. ISBN 0887766855