New York, NY -- Like most children, 10-year old Belinda Phair and her 8-year old brother Peter love bedtime stories, usually picking something from their well-filled bookcase. One night, when a new book magically appears, they keep it a secret from their father. However, the children are no sooner asleep, than they are awoken by three furry orbs who pop out of the strange book. The orbs turn out to be Marjoram, Rosemary and Basil, winged Royal Kitchen Mice from the Kingdom of Enchanted Thyme.
In much the same manner that Belinda and Peter are whisked off to the Kingdom of Enchanted Thyme by the Royal Kitchen Mice, readers will find themselves carried away by Enchanted Thyme- Book One of Ariane Smith’s The (
www.enchantedthyme.com, $17.95 dust-jacketed hardcover).
Written for children ages 6-11, this imaginative book is the first in a 6-part series. The Royal Kitchen Mice hand-picked Belinda and Peter because, as children of a chef, the mice think the kids may be able to reverse a curse placed on their hapless Queen Topstead. The Fricassee Fairy has cursed the queen with a hunger that cannot be slaked no matter how much food is placed before her. Will Belinda and Peter be able to prepare a dish (with the help of the royal kitchen’s master chef) that will restore order?
“I developed Enchanted Thyme as a way to stimulate a child’s appetite in all ways,” said Smith, an accomplished playwright and children’s entertainer. “It provides an immersion of sorts, an exciting trip through another world and an adventure that can be explored on a systemic level that reaches from head to potatoes.”
The book also makes good use of more than 100 “twenty-five-cent” words and provides a glossary to help readers understand their meaning, thus bundling the fun content with learning. What’s more, Enchanted Thyme punctuates each chapter with a child-friendly recipe especially developed by professional chef Michael Wilson. The organically-based concoctions will pass muster with both children and their parents. There’s everything from “Peter’s Pirate’s Gold” (a new spin on mashed potatoes) and “The Forbidden Forest’s Black Raven Bog with Vanilla Fog” (a delicious bread pudding) to “The Fricassee Fairy’s Siberian Ice Pops.”
This appealing combination of children’s literature and recipes sets the table for a transporting fantasy of sizzling ingredients. Children will gobble up this fun story — and be asking for seconds.
Enchanted Thyme - Book One: The Delicious Adventure Series
By Ariane Smith
Recipes by Michael Wilson
Line illustrations by Andy Roth
130 pages • 5.5" x 8.5" • Glossary of 105 “big words”
15 recipes • For children ages 6 - 11
ISBN-13: 978-0-9814872-0-5
$17.95 dust-jacketed hardcover
Publication date: September 2008
Published by Big Word Press, NY, NY. The book will be available at bookstores nationwide and online with distribution to major wholesalers and retailers being handled by Mark Kohut & Associates.
http://www.enchantedthyme.com 
