Ahmad and His Whistling Camel

While we, too, are of the eat-it-or-starve mentality, we have discovered some help for gently persuading our boys to partake of their delicious-and-nutritious suppers, even if it looks funny or has strange things sticking to it (heaven forbid there are onions or anything that is related to onion: scallions, leeks, shallots, sometimes even celery gets the cold shoulder).

Ahmad and his whistling camel. It's ironic that while I, who write children's books, am consistently bested by my husband, the finance professor at telling tales at the dinner table. He invents stories of Ahmad and his Whistling Camel and the boys beg, and I do mean BEG for more stories about Ahmad's whistling camel. The Ginger Bread Man won't tell them unless they take a bite. So he hooks them, then refuses to go on unless they take another bite. It's really hilarious. Especially the one where Ahmad's whistling camel's favorite song to whistle is "Singin' in the Rain" and he ends up in a carwash in Cairo strapped to the top of a mini cooper just so he can whistle his favorite song...