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It’s impossible to find children’s books in Zimbabwe, so she concocted the tales herself. 在津巴布韦不可能找到儿童故事书，因此她只好自己编故事。
My son thinks stories come out of the oven. Every morning he jumps into my bed and demands a fresh story. “You’ve had all night to bake it, Mummy,” he says.
We live in Zimbabwe, where books—like bread and many other basics—are hard to find. The government bookseller, Kingstons, hasn’t had new books for months.
Back home in England, my mother tries to fill the gap, searching in her attic for the Ladybird books she squirrelled away when my sisters and I graduated to storybooks without pictures.
She packs them up with packets of biscuit mix and instant custard and sends them to Zimbabwe. But Mum’s packages often take months to reach us. Fuel shortages mean that the state postal service can move the mail infrequently from the main sorting office in Harare to post offices around the country.
In the meantime, what do you do with a 4-year-old who’s desperate for his daily tale? You concoct it yourself.
My boy believes that his mother can make most things in the kitchen. No bread? Mummy will make a hot-milk sponge cake to put in his school snack box. No candies? Mummy can freeze homemade lemon juice in a plastic cup to make a lollipop. I use a stalk of lemon grass as a “stick.” So Sam thinks I should rustle up stories in just the same way.
Living in Zimbabwe has taught me to make do with what’s in the pantry. I’ve learned to substitute jam for honey, custard powder for eggs, and the orange cape gooseberries that grow wild next to my fennel for blueberries when I’m baking muffins.
When it comes to making up stories, I’ve also had to adapt the recipe. I know from hours spent in libraries that a story needs several ingredients: a strong main character with a burning quest, a few spoonfuls of conflict, and a dollop of redemption at the end.
I don’t have to look far for the inspiration for my main character. She’s not actually inside my pantry, but given half a chance she’d be there in a flash. Her name is Ruby. Ruby is our 2-year-old Rottweiler.
In life as in fiction, Ruby is a lovable rogue. If Mummy’s sandal goes missing, Ruby will invariably be found chewing it under the banana tree. If someone steals the kittens’ supper, it’s always Ruby who’s slinking under the bougainvillea licking her lips.
So there’s my ready-mixed conflict: Ruby versus Mummy. Ruby’s quest is obvious: She has one thing on her mind and that’s the next meal.
Into my story bowl go a few friendly monsters, a triceratops and a couple of tropical rainstorms. I beat in a bit of local color: Lake Kariba in western Zimbabwe is a favorite setting. In her never-ending search for edibles, Ruby puts her nose into places she shouldn’t, gets captured by not-too-dangerous pirates, and is saved (of course) by Super Sam.
It’s the redemption part that’s problematic. Is it far-fetched to expect Ruby, in her relief at being rescued, to promise never to be greedy again? I fear my stories may flop, as my cakes do when I open the oven too soon. But Sam seems satisfied.
I read once that as long as you bake a cake with love, it’ll taste fine. Perhaps it’s the same for stories.
我的儿子认为故事是从烤箱中烤出来的。每天早上他都会跳到我的床上要求讲一个新故事。“你已经将它烤了一整晚上，妈妈，”他说。
我们生活在津巴布韦，在这里图书——就像面包和其他基本生活用品一样——是很难找到的。政府书商金斯敦斯已经好几个月没有进到新书了。
回到英格兰的家后，我母亲努力去填补这个缺口，在她的阁楼上寻找“瓢虫”图书，这些没有图画的书籍是姐姐和我当年阅读完母亲存放到那里的。
她把这些书与成包的各种饼干和速食乳蛋糕包裹在一起，然后把它们发到了津巴布韦。但妈妈的包裹经常需要好几个月才能够到达我们这里。燃料的匮乏意味着国家邮政局不太可能在很短时间内把这些邮件从哈拉雷的信件分拣总室送到全国各地的邮局。
同时，对一个极想天天听故事的四岁孩子如何应付呢？那就只好自己编故事了。
我的儿子相信母亲能在厨房中做出绝大多数的饭菜。没有面包了？妈妈会在他上学的快餐盒中放上一块热牛奶海绵蛋糕。没有糖果了？妈妈会把本国柠檬汁放到一个塑料杯子中做成一个棒棒糖。我经常把柠檬的茎做成“棒”，因此萨姆就认为我应该以同样的方式来搞到故事。
生活在津巴布韦教会我用食品储藏室的东西来应急。我学会了用蜂蜜来代替蜂蜜，用奶粉来代替鸡蛋，当我烤松饼的时候我会用生长在茴香苗旁边的橘黄色灯笼果来代替蓝莓。
到了编故事的时候，我不得不也采取了同样的方法。我通过在图书馆消磨时光了解到了一个故事需要好几个因素：一个热情探险坚强的主角、一系列冲突和结尾时的一些拯救行动。
我不需要到远处寻找我故事主角的灵感。她确实不在我的食品储藏室中，但只要有一点点机会她就在那里闪现。她的名字叫鲁比。鲁比是我们2岁大的罗特韦尔犬。
生活同小说一样，鲁比是一个可爱的调皮鬼。如果妈妈的凉鞋不见了，总会发现鲁比在香蕉树下咀嚼它们。如果小猫的晚饭被偷了，总是鲁比潜逃到九重葛下添着她的嘴唇。
因此就有了我半成品的冲突：鲁比和妈妈。鲁比的渴望很明显：她脑海里有一件事情，那就是下一顿饭。
在我的故事饭碗中，走进了几个友好的怪物、三角恐龙和两次热带风暴。我增加进一些乡土色彩：津巴布韦西部的卡里巴湖是最中意的场景。在她不停寻找食物过程中，鲁比把她的鼻子伸进她不应该伸进的地方，被不太危险的海盗抓住，当然最终被超人萨姆营救了。
有问题的还是进行拯救那些章节。期望鲁比在被营救时感到宽慰并许诺今后再也不会如此贪婪是否有些牵强？我担心我的故事会失败，正如当我太早打开烤箱时蛋糕掉到地上一样。但萨姆似乎很满意。
我再次认识到，只要你用爱烤蛋糕，它就会香甜可口。或许故事也是如此。☆
My son thinks stories come out of the oven. Every morning he jumps into my bed and demands a fresh story. “You’ve had all night to bake it, Mummy,” he says.
We live in Zimbabwe, where books—like bread and many other basics—are hard to find. The government bookseller, Kingstons, hasn’t had new books for months.
Back home in England, my mother tries to fill the gap, searching in her attic for the Ladybird books she squirrelled away when my sisters and I graduated to storybooks without pictures.
She packs them up with packets of biscuit mix and instant custard and sends them to Zimbabwe. But Mum’s packages often take months to reach us. Fuel shortages mean that the state postal service can move the mail infrequently from the main sorting office in Harare to post offices around the country.
In the meantime, what do you do with a 4-year-old who’s desperate for his daily tale? You concoct it yourself.
My boy believes that his mother can make most things in the kitchen. No bread? Mummy will make a hot-milk sponge cake to put in his school snack box. No candies? Mummy can freeze homemade lemon juice in a plastic cup to make a lollipop. I use a stalk of lemon grass as a “stick.” So Sam thinks I should rustle up stories in just the same way.
Living in Zimbabwe has taught me to make do with what’s in the pantry. I’ve learned to substitute jam for honey, custard powder for eggs, and the orange cape gooseberries that grow wild next to my fennel for blueberries when I’m baking muffins.
When it comes to making up stories, I’ve also had to adapt the recipe. I know from hours spent in libraries that a story needs several ingredients: a strong main character with a burning quest, a few spoonfuls of conflict, and a dollop of redemption at the end.
I don’t have to look far for the inspiration for my main character. She’s not actually inside my pantry, but given half a chance she’d be there in a flash. Her name is Ruby. Ruby is our 2-year-old Rottweiler.
In life as in fiction, Ruby is a lovable rogue. If Mummy’s sandal goes missing, Ruby will invariably be found chewing it under the banana tree. If someone steals the kittens’ supper, it’s always Ruby who’s slinking under the bougainvillea licking her lips.
So there’s my ready-mixed conflict: Ruby versus Mummy. Ruby’s quest is obvious: She has one thing on her mind and that’s the next meal.
Into my story bowl go a few friendly monsters, a triceratops and a couple of tropical rainstorms. I beat in a bit of local color: Lake Kariba in western Zimbabwe is a favorite setting. In her never-ending search for edibles, Ruby puts her nose into places she shouldn’t, gets captured by not-too-dangerous pirates, and is saved (of course) by Super Sam.
It’s the redemption part that’s problematic. Is it far-fetched to expect Ruby, in her relief at being rescued, to promise never to be greedy again? I fear my stories may flop, as my cakes do when I open the oven too soon. But Sam seems satisfied.
I read once that as long as you bake a cake with love, it’ll taste fine. Perhaps it’s the same for stories.
我的儿子认为故事是从烤箱中烤出来的。每天早上他都会跳到我的床上要求讲一个新故事。“你已经将它烤了一整晚上，妈妈，”他说。
我们生活在津巴布韦，在这里图书——就像面包和其他基本生活用品一样——是很难找到的。政府书商金斯敦斯已经好几个月没有进到新书了。
回到英格兰的家后，我母亲努力去填补这个缺口，在她的阁楼上寻找“瓢虫”图书，这些没有图画的书籍是姐姐和我当年阅读完母亲存放到那里的。
她把这些书与成包的各种饼干和速食乳蛋糕包裹在一起，然后把它们发到了津巴布韦。但妈妈的包裹经常需要好几个月才能够到达我们这里。燃料的匮乏意味着国家邮政局不太可能在很短时间内把这些邮件从哈拉雷的信件分拣总室送到全国各地的邮局。
同时，对一个极想天天听故事的四岁孩子如何应付呢？那就只好自己编故事了。
我的儿子相信母亲能在厨房中做出绝大多数的饭菜。没有面包了？妈妈会在他上学的快餐盒中放上一块热牛奶海绵蛋糕。没有糖果了？妈妈会把本国柠檬汁放到一个塑料杯子中做成一个棒棒糖。我经常把柠檬的茎做成“棒”，因此萨姆就认为我应该以同样的方式来搞到故事。
生活在津巴布韦教会我用食品储藏室的东西来应急。我学会了用蜂蜜来代替蜂蜜，用奶粉来代替鸡蛋，当我烤松饼的时候我会用生长在茴香苗旁边的橘黄色灯笼果来代替蓝莓。
到了编故事的时候，我不得不也采取了同样的方法。我通过在图书馆消磨时光了解到了一个故事需要好几个因素：一个热情探险坚强的主角、一系列冲突和结尾时的一些拯救行动。
我不需要到远处寻找我故事主角的灵感。她确实不在我的食品储藏室中，但只要有一点点机会她就在那里闪现。她的名字叫鲁比。鲁比是我们2岁大的罗特韦尔犬。
生活同小说一样，鲁比是一个可爱的调皮鬼。如果妈妈的凉鞋不见了，总会发现鲁比在香蕉树下咀嚼它们。如果小猫的晚饭被偷了，总是鲁比潜逃到九重葛下添着她的嘴唇。
因此就有了我半成品的冲突：鲁比和妈妈。鲁比的渴望很明显：她脑海里有一件事情，那就是下一顿饭。
在我的故事饭碗中，走进了几个友好的怪物、三角恐龙和两次热带风暴。我增加进一些乡土色彩：津巴布韦西部的卡里巴湖是最中意的场景。在她不停寻找食物过程中，鲁比把她的鼻子伸进她不应该伸进的地方，被不太危险的海盗抓住，当然最终被超人萨姆营救了。
有问题的还是进行拯救那些章节。期望鲁比在被营救时感到宽慰并许诺今后再也不会如此贪婪是否有些牵强？我担心我的故事会失败，正如当我太早打开烤箱时蛋糕掉到地上一样。但萨姆似乎很满意。
我再次认识到，只要你用爱烤蛋糕，它就会香甜可口。或许故事也是如此。☆