Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Things About Me

Cooking Skill Level: VERY EASY

This has to be one of my very favorite books that we’ve cooked.  The hero is a Shell.  With a Face.   And Shoes.  And he sleeps between two slices of bread.  In his breadroom.

 I read this one standing in the book store and was immediately charmed.  I later found out that the story is based on a YouTube video created by a former Saturday Night Live comedienne.  She’s brilliant.  I actually watched the video one day, and it showed Marcel, the Shell (with Shoes On) standing on a laptop keyboard talking.  In the background, the letter he was standing on scrolled across the screen, continuing on the next line.  Brilliant. 

 The humor in the book is so well suited to kids.  They have a different perspective on the world, usually from about 2 to 4 feet high.  Marcel has a different perspective on the world, about 2 inches high.  The things that are important in Marcel’s life are so obvious to my grandkids that they just can’t stop bringing some of Marcel’s words into everyday conversations.  This is such a grand response to a book we shared, and the response to how we cooked it was just as good.

 We started with shells.  Pasta shells, in two sizes.  The large shell was to emulate Marcel.  The small shells were mixed with peas because I thought it was a cute side dish, but the boys took it one step further.  They stuffed a pea into the little shell and used it as Marcel’s eye.  I have to say that when the boys made them, they turned out far cuter than when I remade them for the photograph.  That’s most likely because they assembled them in their hands, holding the large shell, with two halves of radishes stuck underneath for shoes, and a green pea eye resting in a tiny shell, yelling “I’m eating a Marcellllllll” each bite they took.  But you’ll at least get the idea from the pictures I took. 

If you haven’t noticed by now, I don’t mind a mess we can clean up with a bathtub, paper towel or power washer, so a lot of times, I make meals that the boys get to assemble themselves.  They definitely eat more of the foods when they put them together.  So this time, it was the large shells, some pulled brisket (I actually used pulled pork the first time around), some coleslaw and the mini shells and peas.   I put the halved radishes on each boys’ plate and made sure they knew they were the shoes.  Turns out that boys LOVE to eat shoes.

 

 

Once we were done with the Marcels, the boys had a dessert of quasi-shell shaped pies with cherry filling.  This was a quick dessert since I didn’t make my own pie crust, but used a refrigerated one from the store.  I thawed and unrolled the crust (only needed one), and used my largest biscuit cutter to create circles.  Then I pinched a bit on one edge of the circle of dough and put them into a mini muffin tin slightly off-center.  I pinched the upper edge so I could convince the boys that they looked like shells. (it worked) (this time)  Then I filled them with some pie filling I’d made last year from a bunch of cherries I’d gotten at a farmer’s market.  You can easily use canned filling, and of course, any flavor you little ones would like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, before I give you the book and menu details, I have to share my very favorite part of this book. It’s when Marcel is watching a movie with his Grandma and a large popcorn.   The illustration shows two shells from behind with one very large popcorn kernel.  One of the shells has white hair done up in a fancy style.  My oldest grandson tried to make my hair stand up like Marcel’s grandma’s.
 

 

Title	Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, Things About Me
Author	Jenny Slate & Dean Fleischer-Camp
Illustrator
Publisher	Penguin
Highlights /Tie in	Shells, Shoes, Eye
Reactions to the Book	·         Q loved the story, looking for the Grandma, Marcel and Large Popcorn ·         The boys LOVED the Breadroom ·         Lots of giggles with this story
Meal	·         Marcel: Large pasta shells, bowls of pulled brisket, coleslaw, and halved radishes for the shoes ·         Marcel’s eye: tiny pasta shells and peas with a small amt of butter ·         Dessert: more mini-pies, these were cherry and minimally looked like a seashell holding the cherry filling
Reactions to the Meal	·         WE’RE MAKING MARCELS – WE’RE EATING MARCELS ·         They (all 3) stuffed their large shells, put a pea in a small shell and put it on the large shell, then arranged the radish shoes ·         Tiny shells ended up on fingertips

 

Well, I’ll get back to work putting together some posts for the other stories we’ve already done.  I’m waiting for the order from Scholastic Books that will arrive at the kindergarten so we can start cooking books again!