Cooking Class

Title: Cooking Class
Author: Deanna F. Cook
Illustrator: Emily Baisley
Photographer: Julie Bidwell
Publisher: Storey Publishing
Publication Date: March 2015
Place of Publication: North Adams, MA
Age Range: Grades 3 - 12
Lexile Measure: NA
Awards: IACP Award Finalist
                 2015 “National Parenting Publications Awards” (NAPPA) Gold award winner
                 2015 Parents’ Choice Award Silver winner
                 2016 Mom’s Choice Award Gold winner
                 2015 NPR Great Reads

This engaging, child-friendly, generously illustrated cookbook begins with basic information about how the book is organized. The recipes are rated by difficulty with 1, 2, or 3 wooden spoons - the 1's do not require cooking or a sharp knife, while the 3's "involve cutting with sharp knives and using the oven and stovetop...If you are just learning to cook, work with an adult." The Table of Contents shows the chapters which are illustrated with children either preparing or eating a recipe from that chapter. 

        

The lessons in the first chapter cover everything from a discussion of kitchen rules, which begins with washing your hands with warm water and soap to cleaning up afterward to setting the table and folding special napkins.



Each recipe includes step-by-step directions, and most have a box for "creative cooks" which offer additional ingredients and combinations, as shown below.



Following the recipe for a "toasty melt," (grilled cheese) is a recipe for a panini, with additional combinations for ingredients, for both, in the box for creative cooks.




Most of the recipes are fairly healthy and vegetables and fruits are featured prominently. Segues are made to show a visit to the orchard to pick apples for Easy-Peasy Applesauce, a discussion about having a garden or visiting the farmer's market, as well as suggestions for entertaining your family or community, such as a mix-and-match pizza party (shown below) and a sleepover party. Includes an Index.



This quote from a review by Family Fun magazine says it all, “An appealing blend of fun techniques (flowers made of fruit, anyone?) and practical recipes (omelets, apple crisp) make former FamilyFun editor Deanna F. Cook’s new book, Cooking Class, a must-have for any budding chef. The recipe variations and open-ended projects let kids take their culinary creativity to the next level.” — FamilyFun


The numbered and pictured steps make this title accessible to even non-readers, if they were experienced in the kitchen. Older and less experienced children, tweens, and even teens will still find this cookbook engaging because of the opportunity to be creative by using some of the additions and substitutions suggested. I think it would be a solid addition to every juvenile nonfiction collection.

Cooking Class would make a wonderful resource for creating a cooking program. Even if your library only allows you to serve prepackaged foods, many of these recipes are simply using those foods in different ways, such as the Lunch-on-a-Stick shown above. Quite a few of the recipes do not involve sharp knives or cooking either. 



These delicious salads could be assembled with minimal cutting necessary. I have been successful using pumpkin carving knives and vegetable/fruit cutters like this one with younger children:



If your library has a MakerSpace with a kitchen, you could use literally cook your way through this book. 

The addition of the presentation and serving information included in the book offer the opportunity to include Grace & Courtesy lessons along with cooking. For the final class, you could even host an event for the families of the chefs. You could even present the "chefs" with personalized graduation certificates, aprons, or their very own chef's hat.

One more library idea would be to tie the cooking programs to a children's garden. Even a few plants in pots would be a start. Who could resist tasting something that they had planted and nurtured from a tiny seed until they could finally harvest it themselves? 

Companion Titles:


Title: The Young Chef: Recipes and Techniques for Kids Who Love to Cook
Author: Mark Ainsworth`
Illustrator: Joel Holland
Photographer: Phil Mansfield
Publisher: The Culinary Institute of America/Houghton Mifflin Hartcourt Publishing Company
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Place of Publication: New York
Age Range: Grades 4 - 7
Lexile Measure: NA
Awards: NA

Brought to you by the famed Culinary Institute of America, this book is presented in two sections, Learning the Basics and Recipes. This title is meant for a slightly older audience. The basics include everything from food and chef safety, knife skills and techniques to cooking methods and nutrition. Recipes are laid out with steps, and include chef notes, photos, and explanations about ingredients. A fun note, "Think like a Chef," where experimentation with flavors and ingredients are encouraged accompanies many of the recipes. An index is included.

Here is an interview about this cookbook by Mark Ainsworth: http://www.food-management.com/k-12-schools/cooking-tips-cia-pro-kids-aren-t-dumb

I searched everywhere to find images from this book, but alas, I came up blank. Trust me, it is fully illustrated with color photography. I especially appreciated the diversity of chefs pictured in this title, including ethnicity, age, and gender.

The New York Times had this to say about this exemplery title, "Recipes in the Culinary Institute of America’s new cookbook for children are not dumbed down. Pizza starts with dough, not an English muffin. And the book opens with good habits for kitchen safety — for the food as well as the chef. (It is recommended for children ages 10 to 14, but an adult who has never really cooked could learn a few lessons, too.) This bright and engaging book explains equipment, knife work, cooking methods and how to taste and create flavor. Sidebars headed “Think Like a Chef” offer variations and tips, and strewn throughout are notes about ingredients and their histories." --The New York Times 


I think this title would be a solid choice for all libraries serving youth. 


Title: Eat Your Greens Reds Yellows and Purples
Author: DK
Photographer: Dave King
Publisher: DK Publishing
Publication Date: May 2016
Place of Publication: New York
Age Range: Grades 3 - 7
Lexile Measure: NA
Awards: NA

At first glance, this title seems to be appealing to a younger audience. The amorphized fruits and vegetables on the cover, the wonky, colorful fonts used in the title, and the tag at the bottom which reads, "a colorful guide to things delicious and nutritions," explain this. The Table of Contents is labeled "The Menu" and the chapter titles are simply colors. Even the equipment pages are simply photos of equipment which are labeled. 

Following this is a double-page spread listing foods that represent each color and why they are good for you and one showing you to "eat a rainbow."


Preparing Your Ingredients is almost a picture dictionary of techniques, many of which involve a sharp knife. 

The chapters are introduced with a greeting like, "Meet the Greens," repeating several fruits and vegetables that are part of the "Green Team" and why you need to eat them. The opposite page shows either completed recipes from the chapter or children preparing or enjoying a recipe. 

Following the chapter introduction is a double-page spread of yet more members of that color's team with more detailed information about them. 



When you finally get to the recipes, although they picture young children preparing them, are fairly complicated and many require the use of sharp knives and heat.






I'm not quite sure what age range this book is really intended for. The amorphized fruits and veggies, less challenging vocabulary, the use of DK's gorgeous photography to break up the text, and the way the information is given in chunks make it more appealing to a younger audience, and also make it easier for the reader to remember bits of information from the text. However the techniques and skills required seem like an older audience would be more successful. I would not add this title to a juvenile collection unless it is very large or has a strong audience for this type of book.

That said, I think it would make a great resource for a series of health and nutrition storytimes using the "Eat a Rainbow" theme.

I have a disclaimer for this post. After my final review earlier this evening, I went to preview the post and it wouldn't load. After several tries, I just decided to post it. It wouldn't post either. When I finally got the site to respond, I had lost three days of work. One of the books I used had been checked out. My daughter said it must be "user error." Lucky for me I wasn't looking for sympathy...Happy reading!

This is How We Do It

Title: This is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from around the World
Author/Illustrator: Matt Lamothe
Publication Date: May 2, 2017
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Audience: K - 3
Lexile Measure: 810

Lamothe first introduces us to the children



 and shows where they live on a world map. 



He then chronicles one day depicting what type of home they live in, the foods they eat throughout the day, what they wore to school, how they got there, what school was like, their after school activities,


   

how they help their families, and where and how they sleep. The muted, but realistic illustrations show, in amazing detail, the similarities and differences in the children's lives. The format is larger than many nonfiction picture books and the colorful, uncluttered illustrations make this a great choice for a read-aloud. Lamothe concludes with double-page illustration of a starry sky with a full moon shining, and the simple closing of "This is my night sky," elegantly reinforcing that we all share one world. 

We get to meet the "real families" and learn a little about why they were chosen.

   

Potentially unfamiliar vocabulary is underlined throughout the book and defined in a Glossary. Also included is an Author's Note. Lamothe tells us that the families took photos of their actual homes, meals, bedrooms, etc. which he used as references for creating the illustrations. He also shares why he wrote this book:

     "I believe the more you learn about different people, the more you see yourself in them, and the more accepting you become."

The book is well organized, accurate, and visually appealing. It would appeal to almost any child even nonreaders, who could still learn a lot just from the illustrations. Choosing to examine one day in a child's life limits the content included to a manageable extent while offering a wide range of scenarios for comparing and contrasting. 

I have often used the book, What the World Eats by Faith D'Aluisio which uses photos from around the world to show what food families eat in one week. 

     

I wasn't sure how the illustrations in Lamothe's book would compare, but I think the illustrations actually allow for more detail to be seen. 



The overall message of the book, that children all over the world need and enjoy the same things, is another reason that this book is a 1st purchase for every public and school library.
Although the audience is listed as K-3, the curriculum connections could be adapted for older students as well. 

By the end of the book, it feels like we have met seven new friends, a perfect lead-in for starting a pen pal exchange. (http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/) Students could also choose countries not represented to create their own books of cultural explorations. A world map could be posted in the classroom with pins labeling all of the cultures studied. You could even hold a multicultural celebration with foods and games from selected countries as a wrap up to these cultural studies.

TeachingBooks has links for the author, book trailer, and teaching guide from Flowering  Minds. (https://floweringminds.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/this-is-how-we-do-it/)

Chronicle Books offers some extensions that you can download. (http://www.chroniclebooks.com/landing-pages/pdfs/this-is-how-we-do-it-activity-kit.pdf) 
Three of the sheets are Venn Diagrams, which highlight the differences and similarities of what each child does or sees throughout the day. This is another wonderful way to point out that everyone has similar needs. A book trailer is included also, (http://www.chroniclebooks.com/titles/this-is-how-we-do-it.html)




The 2016 updated version of Children Just Like Me by DK uses a different format. Single and double page spreads are used for each child. Photos of the child, their family, home, school, etc, and a small map indicating where they live are used to tell each child's story. 



The book includes a Table of Contents, a Glossary and an Index. The endpapers show a map of the world with each child's picture placed where they live. While enjoyable to hop in and out of, the format makes it difficult to spot similarities and differences between the cultures represented.

People by Peter Spier uses a similar approach as This is How We Do It does, but the illustrations are so detailed, with almost too much to focus on, 
that noting similarities and differences is difficult. 


This book does not include a Glossary, Author's Note, or map reference which limits the book's usefulness for educational purposes. Interestingly enough, the final illustration is also of a starry, moonlit sky.  

  One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley

This photographic essay represents one day from dawn to dusk using photos from around the world. Children are shown in various scenarios throughout their day, with general text such as, "Recess rocks. So does lunch," and when the school day is over, "head for home any way they can."




Published by National Geographic, there is an Author's Note and a Photo Index which tells each photo's location, a caption describing the activity pictured, and a Photographer's Note which gives more information about the photo. The final pages are a world map with the location of each photo, description, and page number. A useful book, but the photos look somewhat dated as it was published in 2009. 

Read-Alikes



 The Barefoot Book of Children by Tessa Strickland 

This book starts out like a picture book:

          

but ends with more detailed information, suitable for cultural studies.




A Ticket Around the World by Natalia Diaz

The illustrations are a little cartoony, but show a boy visiting 13 countries while experiencing some of the cultural highlights.


The publisher offers an excellent classroom activity guide, http://www.owlkidsbooks.com/Portals/0/4.ATicketAroundTheWorld_0326.pdf



At The Same Moment Around the World by Clotilde Perrin offers a different perspective. Although it is a fiction title, the illustrations and unique premise offer new ideas for classroom extensions.


I cannot improve on this description from the publisher, "And then the showstopper: a handsome fold out map that unites the whole adventure and reintroduces the children we have met on our journey around the world. What are you waiting for?"