Sometimes families eat a quick breakfast on the move, as they travel to school or work. In France, a buttery, flaky croissant (kwah-sahnt), a pastry shaped like a crescent Moon, makes a great speedy breakfast. Be sure to grab a napkin, as these tasty treats can leave a trail of crumbs! Montreal, Canada, is famous for its bagel shops. A bagel is a bread roll that is shaped like a doughnut and is both boiled and baked. In Montreal, bagels are often boiled in honey water and then baked in a wood-burning oven. It’s a quick breakfast to eat while you’re heading to the subway for work or school. The main flavors are poppy seed and sesame seed, though you might also find the “everything” bagel, which includes both types of seed, onion, and garlic.
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Street vendors are often where food-on-the-go comes from in China. Sweet deep-fried dough sticks, called youtiao (yoh-tyaow), with a cup of soy milk is one popular quick breakfast. Dipping the dough sticks into the soy milk is highly recommended! Steamed buns are another favorite in much of China. The buns, called baozi (bow-tsuh), are sometimes sweet and sometimes salty. The salty ones have meat and vegetables inside. The sweet ones are stuffed with a combination of bean paste, custard, sesame seeds, and sugar. Now that you’ve read about all these tasty breakfasts, which would you most like to eat?
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Rules about manners change over time. But many are still the same as they were years ago. In the United States a woman called Emily Post wrote about table manners in 1922, and her book was a huge success. She was so popular that if two people disagreed about good manners, Emily’s rules would always win. What Emily Post wrote was considered “correct.” To this day, her family is responsible for keeping her rules of good manners up to date and many people still follow them.
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Here are a few of Emily Post’s table manners for kids: 1. Make sure your hands and face are clean before coming to the table. 2. Chew with your mouth closed. 3. Ask for things to be passed to you instead of reaching. 4. Don’t talk with food in your mouth. 5. Put your napkin in your lap. 6. Finish chewing before taking a drink. 7. Don’t put your elbows on the table. 8. Ask whether you may be excused from the table when you are finished.
Can you spot any of the children in the picture breaking Emily’s rules? What would she suggest they do differently? 23
Animal Homes
Just like human families, animal families need homes to keep them safe and warm. Animals are very clever at finding all sorts of nooks and crannies to curl up in. And if they can’t find a comfy home, they build one!
From the tips of the branches down to the roots, trees make great homes for animals. In parts of North America, bright bluebirds weave twigs, leaves, and moss into little baskets. These nests are the perfect places to lay eggs and keep them warm until they hatch. Red squirrels like to snuggle up in knotholes in trees. Squirrel nests are called dreys and are where they look after their babies. Porcupines feel at home in a hollow at the bottom of a tree. When a female has baby porcupettes, she sometimes leaves a smelly pile of poop outside, to scare other animals away! 120
Beavers love the water, so when a couple settle down and have a family, they build a home called a lodge on a lake or river. Beavers cut down trees by gnawing them with their teeth and then use the wood to create a dam. A dam is a barrier that stops the water and makes a little pond in which the beavers can build their lodge. A beaver’s lodge is a good place to keep babies, called kits, safe and warm. Beavers are such great builders that the biggest dams can even be seen from space!
A fallen tree trunk makes a cozy den for a gray fox mother and her cubs. Look closely and you’ll see it is home to insects and spiders of all kinds, too.
A snail never needs to hurry home because home is on its back! They carry spiral shells with them wherever they go and shrink inside whenever danger appears. 121
Britannica's
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ISBN 978-1-913750-38-1
9 781913 750381
Really True
Stories for Family Time 30 Amazing Stories: Featuring baby dinosaurs, helpful dogs, playground science, treetop hotels, a world of birthdays, and so much more! Authors: Alli Brydon, Catherine D. Hughes, and Jackie McCann Illustrators: Anneli Bray, Vivian Mineker, Sofia Moore, and Skylar White Ages: 4–8 Price: U.S. $12.99 / CAN $17.50 Format: Hardcover Extent: 192 pages Trim size: 7.8 x 10.5 inches Pub date: January 4, 2022 ISBN: 978-1-9137503-8-1 BISAC codes: JNF003330 JUVENILE NONFICTION / Animals / Baby Animals JNF014000 JUVENILE NONFICTION / Cooking & Food JNF069000 JNF038000 JUVENILE NONFICTION / People & Places / General What did the world’s first playgrounds look like? What do families all over the world eat for breakfast? How did dinosaurs care for their babies? In this compendium of 5-minute really true stories you will meet all types of family—human and animal!—and learn about the many ways they spend time together. From family bicycle rides to animal migrations, and from tidy-up time to cozying up with pets, discover the amazing science, history, and culture of family activities. With up-to-the-minute, expert information and stunning illustrations, this book will bring out the joy of the everyday things we do at family time.
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Follows on the success of 5-Minute Really True Stories for Bedtime In the past year, the pandemic has brought home the importance of family time, making this title very timely The collection showcases a wide range of cultures and ethnicities
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