Muddy Spring

Behold the Power of Cheese (hands down my favorite advertising campaign)


Cheese has been a regular topic at our house.  We have a cheese making Dad (about a week until our first Camembert sampling), cheese eating kids, and cheese eating Mom.  Since it's become something of an obsession I thought I'd share the wonderful book I found that is based on a true story about...wait for it..cheese.  A tremendous cheddar in fact.

A Big Cheese for the White House (The true tale of a tremendous cheddar) by Candace Flemming is a delightful jaunt through history -- one of those little known sideline stories.  The town of Cheshire, Massachusetts makes a "whopping big cheddar" and sends it to the White House so that the president "won't be serving Norton cheese."  In other words, they've launched an incredible advertising campaign for Cheshire Cheddar.

 There are several fictional characters that help flesh out the story, my favorite being the doubting town member, Phineas Dobbs.  "Ridiculous, It can't be done!"  Throughout the process he points out the problems that need to be overcome in order to complete this "cheese making miracle". 

 It's fun to read aloud.  The layout is varied so that it is visually interesting as well.  Mowg tells me his favorite part is "when they make Cheshire Cheese!"  Just a little more more evidence that the advertising campaign worked well.   What you'll learn:  the historic story and basic process of cheddar making.  Perhaps you'll embark on a travel plan that will include a stop in Chesire to see the concrete replica of the cheese and the apple press they used to make it.