Strudel Stories

An Excerpt from Strudel Stories "Stories now, Mama?" Isaac asks. Sarah nods and picks up her mending. Baby Bertha wakes up. Hannah, listening to her mother's stories, holds the baby on her knee. Isaac makes a tower on the floor with the walnut shells, listening too. Sarah's stories enter the warm oven, smoothing the sugar. As the strudel bakes, the stories tuck themselves between the apple slices. Later, when Hannah and Isaac eat the strudel, it seems they can taste those stories. Stories about Jonah, cheerfully stepping from the belly of a whale. Stories about Moses, striding the floor of the Red Sea. And stories that grow from a question. "Did your mama bake strudel when you were a little girl?" Isaac asks. "Ah," says Sarah, stirring cherry preserves into her tea, "when I was a little girl . . . "Rocklin, Joanne is the author of 'Strudel Stories' with ISBN 9780440415091 and ISBN 0440415098.