The Costco Connection - October 2018

Hungry,
quirky kids
Ransom Riggs returns
with more adventures of
Jacob Portman and the
peculiar children

by JUDY GELMAN AND VICKI LEVY KRUPP

Costco’s suggested Book Club read provides insight into a selected novel, as well as an appropriate recipe (or two) to accompany your own book club’s discussion.

he fourth title in Ransom Riggs’

Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children

young adult series, A Map of Days, is set in protagonist Jacob’s home in modern-day Florida.

With their unusual powers— flame-throwing from fingertips, levitation and more—the peculiars struggle to blend into American life, but their “normalling” lessons are interrupted when they discover an underground bunker that belonged to Jacob’s grandfather, Abe. As Jacob uncovers details of Abe’s life as a peculiar operative, he gradually understands the dangerous legacy he has inherited.

This is the peculiars’ first trip to North America, a place entirely foreign to them.

“You must familiarize yourselves with [America’s] idioms and customs and ultimately be able to pass as normal,” instructs Miss Peregrine, the peculiars’ protector and guide. Their education

T

begins as soon as they arrive and Jacob orders pizza. “The best food in the world!

… I’ll be having this every night,” declares Claire, one of the peculiar children.

According to Riggs, food plays an important role in creating authentic settings for his time-traveling characters.

He says he uses food in his novels to help bolster the sensory experience of a new time and place, since it is so essential to his own experience of place.

When the peculiars are in Victorian England, they are often found “feasting on plum pudding and roasted goose.

When they’re in modern-day America, they’re eating takeout, pizza, burgers, candy and road food,” he explains.

Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp are behind the cookbook and website The Book Club Cookbook ( bookclubcookbook.com).

TA H E R E H M A F I

Ransom Riggs

Green Goddess

Here’s a drink Horace, the gourmet peculiar, might serve.

2 oz green tea

2 oz arugula simple syrup

1 oz lemon juice
½ oz cucumber juice
½ to 1 oz jalapeño juice,
or to taste

3 folded cucumber slices,
skewered, for garnish
Mint, for garnish

ARUGULA SIMPLE SYRUP

1 cup arugula

2 cups simple syrup

CUCUMBER JUICE

½ cucumber, peeled, trimmed, seeded, chunked

1 oz water

JALAPEÑO JUICE

1 large jalapeño pepper, stemmed, seeded, chunked

1 oz water

Prepare the arugula simple syrup: Blend arugula and simple syrup in a blender. Strain through a sieve.

Prepare cucumber juice: Purée cucumber with water in a blender. Strain through a sieve.

Prepare jalapeño juice: Purée jalapeño with water in a blender. Strain.

Pour the tea, arugula simple syrup, lemon juice, cucumber juice and jalapeño juice into a cocktail shaker. Shake, then pour into a glass filled with ice.