Hurricane season may be almost over, but the next time rain keeps you indoors, reach for one of these much-loved books: The Umbrella Party (Groundwood), by Janet Lunn, The Umbrella (Penguin), by Jan Brett, or Taro Yashima’s Caldecott Honor Book, Umbrella (Viking).
After the story, you and your child can make the most of bad weather and good reading by baking easy umbrella cookies.
1. Using any refrigerated cookie dough, slice the circles of dough in half to form umbrella-like semi-circles.
2. Place one row of semi-circles near the top edge of a cookie sheet.
3. Insert lollipop sticks into the flat edge of the semi-circle.
4. Leaving room for the cookies to spread, place a second row of semi-circles about an inch below the lollipop sticks.
5. Bake as directed.
6. When you take the cookies out of the oven, use a small measuring spoon to cut away scallops from the flat side of the cookie so that it resembles an umbrella.
7. If you like, you can paint the cookies with a thin glaze made of powdered sugar and milk, and sprinkle on blue sanded sugar “rain.”