Bread and Butterfly

This month’s Cook the Books club took a different direction as participants were invited to read Alice in Wonderland and/or Alice Through the Looking Glass.

I read both books a couple years ago and enjoyed them.  I decided to reread them aloud with the kids.  At 12 and & 14 they were not thrilled.  They’re both boys and all about the action, action, action.  Alice was not that.  But we were in the car on a 4000+ mile road trip (that was awesome - all in agreement) and they had no choice (my superpower is being able to read…aloud or silently…in the car)

When I checked the book out on my kindle, it automatically came with both (and neither are very long), so we read both as we traveled.  It is interesting to compare the books to the Disney movie, since it takes bits from both while creating a totally different storyline.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

These books are so punny and delightful! I feel like Through the Looking Glass is the Stronger book. Yet, both are full of humor and puns and highly enjoyable.

View all my reviews

We all seemed to enjoy Through the Looking Glass a bit more than Alice in Wonderland.  Both books were very cheeky and punny, but Lewis Carroll seems to really nail in the pun game in the second book.  Or maybe the kids just finally understood what they needed to listen for by then?

Either way, I recommend reading the books as a pair.  So what to make inspired by this pair of books?

I decided to take inspiration from one of my favorite parts of Through the Looking Glass - the insects!  First, Alice talks to the Gnat, who introduces her to the Rocking Horse Fly, the Snap Dragonfly, and the Bread and Butterfly!

The Bread and Butterfly is described as such: “Its wings are thin slices of Bread-and-butter, its body is a crust, and its head is a lump of sugar.”  And it survives on weak tea and milk.  

The Bread and Butterflies even showed up in the Disney movie!

Well, challenge accepted.   I made some Sandwich bread and made my bread and butterfly - I decided to toast the bread so it would be a bit sturdier. I totally meant to make some tea, but forgot once it came time to photograph the tea.

The kids, who love butter toast, were more than happy to eat this Bread and Butterfly (and were even happier once we were done with the book and could go on to the next - which was heavy on action and adventure!)

Bread & Butterfly

2 slices bread

Butter

White Cheddar Cheeseball

Edible Food Marker

Toast the bread. Butter.  Use toothpicks to make a butterfly shape. Draw a face onto the cheeseball with the marker (unless you have a sugar lump, of course).