Updated November, 2010
Kids' Food Books
Just like there are great food movies, there are also some very good young children’s books that are Food & Garden oriented.
Here are the ones we’ve found so far. - Joanne & JackKids' Food Books
(& Garden Books)
(And please email your recommendations!)
Children's Books to Read
Strega Nona
by Tomie de Paola
This new addition to the favorite Strega Nona series is bound to be a seasonal favorite. The emphasis is on the garden and the harvest = and sharing the bounty.
A Seed Is Sleepyby Dianna Hutts Aston, Illustrated by Sylvia Long
Gorgeous, breath-taking illustrations, make this a winner. Each page offers a gem of information pertaining to seeds. It has a really good overview of seed germination in pictures. Also, an interesting selection of seeds, such as devils clan, Texas mountain laurel pod and turpentine bean. A great little chart shows different germination times for seeds inciting discussion. Not so great: There is not much text; mainly a picture book.
Fairy Tale Feastsby Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple, illustrated by Philippe Beha
The Great: I love the idea of this book. First, a story somehow food related and then a recipe. The stories are good choices from a selection of tales from around the world. I like that there are offerings in breakfast, lunch, dinner, soup and dessert categories. The illustrations by Philippe Beba are really modern and fun and add to the enjoyment of the story. I also like the “historical tidbit” sidebars. Recipes and stories one novel takes on the families.
The Not So Great: A lot of white space and large font size makes recipes break across multiple pages. Some of the stories are very short. Stories like Seven Hills of Sweet, Diamonds and Toads, The Magic Leaves, Cinderella’s Stone Soup. Recipes like Sweet Chocolate Mouse, Very French Toast, Goat Cheese Sandwiches, Pumpkin Tartlets and Stone Soup.
The Apple Pie Treeby Zoe Hall & Shari Halpern (illustrator)
This is a lovely picture book, with minimal text, which covers the seasons of an apple tree and the growth of an apple.
The concept is that an apple tree is in fact a glorious tree, which produces the essential ingredient in apple pie. A recipe for apple pie and a quick overview of pollination concludes the book. It’s true that “there’s nothing as good as an apple pie you grew yourself”.
The Paper Bag Princeby Colin Thompson
The illustrations in this story make it wonderful. It’s largely about garbage dumps, with an underlying message of recycle and re-use, and a more specific bittersweet story of an old man who lives with his lot in life and is rewarded with a new friend (a stray dog) at the end. The old man has leased his property to the garbage dump. All kinds of animals live in the dump. The man gets the land back, the dump is closed, nature starts to reclaim the land, and the man makes his life more comfortable.
It’s a picture book that encourages discussion about garbage and pollution. My son adores it. The illustrations hide all kinds of little creatures many of whom have found homes in things people throw away. The ending for the man is happy. Age 4+
How to Make An Apple Pieand see the world
by Marjorie Priceman
This is a really fun picture book, for ages 4-8, that follows the travels of a young lady questing for apple pie ingredients around the world. What I really like, is the message underlying, which is that only the best ingredients will do and they are worth seeking out. Very fun!
Magic School Bus - Gets Baked In A Cake
A book about Kitchen Chemistry
by Joanna Cole
& Bruce Degen (Illustrator)
I love that this book equates cooking with chemistry. The story really touches on the concept of chemical reaction, but it will likely elicit more discussion. The experiment offered at the end is a fun one, with easy ingredients. This book is part of the TV series Magic School Bus books which doesn't have quite as much detail and extra reading as the classic series but offers enough information to get kids interested in the science of the project. The illustrations are lively and the text is enjoyable to read to them. The suggested age is 5-7 but curious pre-schoolers will enjoy them, too.
Also highly recommended are other The Magic School Bus books on Cooking & Gardening:
The Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad: A book about Decomposition
(A wonderful kids book about rotting and decomposition is a nice introduction to compost)
The Magic School Bus In a Pickle: A Book About Microbes (about fermentation and how food is preserved in this way - really good!)
The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow
(about how things grow from seed)
Walking the World in Wonder: A Children's Herbal
by Ellen Evert Hopman
The Great: It is a simple format, which is organized as a dictionary or encyclopedia of herbs, alphabetically by season. Every entry has a color photo of the plant and the facing page holds the description. The narrative is in first person-from the plant's perspective. Many of the entries include a recipe or directions for use. The material is presented in a young person's easy tone.
The not-so: Only a small selection of herbal plants is offered. The photos while attractive do not in some cases lend themselves well to in the field identification - a line drawing would be more helpful. There is no alphabetical index so "look ups” are cumbersome. Some potentially toxic herbs like hemlock and sumac are covered, so there are cautionary notes, but I don't think toxicity is handled exceptionally well.
Overall: It's a nice reference and good library choice for a young forager but fails to hit the mark for a primary herbal for Kids.
A Kid’s Herb Bookby Lesley Tierra
I bought this book for a 4-year old knowing that this is a kid-friendly herbal book. It has lots of open space, large print, and black and white drawings, which makes it accessible to a younger audience than the one which it is likely intended for.
Unusual herbs are covered in detail, such as slippery elm and plantain. There’s a lot of learning and educational opportunities, with mini projects, recipes, tips, remedy recipes, as well as stories and songs. There is a chapter on gardening. The main intent of the book is exploration, to make the herb garden a friendly place to visit, and to increase herb awareness.
Projects can certainly be done with the under 6 age level. The stories and songs are accessible to most kids, but the 6+ will benefit the most.
There's a Hair in My Dirtby Gary Larson
While not exactly a "children's" book and given a definite caveat to parents - (the theme of the book is DEATH and it's slightly grisly), Gary Larson's wry humor is beautifully showcased here in a Worm's story of how hair got into his dirt and how dirt comes about. A really interesting take on the cycles of things. We bought our copy at Blue Hill Stone Barns. I love this book. Definitely in the 9-12 age category for most parents.
How Groundhog’s Garden Grew
by Lynne Cherry
A young groundhog is told not to steal food but instead to grow his own garden. A squirrel takes him under his wing and they do just that. The book follows from how to save seed to planting to harvesting the food. For ages 3-7, maybe 2-8 if strong interest in gardening and animals. This book is inspiring, with gorgeous illustrations (including ones showing seed growth in steps). Highly Recommended.
Great Gardens for Kids: Imaginative Ideas To Entertain, Education and DelightThe British publisher, Hamlyn, offers this book, which is extremely attractive in both its photographs and content. Lots of ideas for play areas in gardens, large and small, and instructions on how to make them, illustrated in step-by-step form. The book makes projects look easy and attractive. My son likes to look through it on his own as the photographs are lovely; in fact he picked out the book himself at the bookstore. Ideas range from pots of potatoes, flowering hideaway, rill, wildlife container pond, crocodile garden, to larger scale play areas, such as “a relaxing retreat”. My absolute favorite is the daffodil maze which can be planted in any lawn. I haven’t made it yet, but hope to! There are lots of great ideas I’ve bookmarked. A wonderful book to look through, and refer to for small project ideas.
Not So: Certainly not a must-have and would be better received by those wishing to expand their gardens or re-landscape. Projects range from inexpensive and simple, to potentially expensive and time-consuming.
Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Childrenby Sharon Lovejoy
This is a fun book for winter to plan your spring and summer project. A companion to Lovejoy's Sunflower Houses: Inspiration from the Garden - A Book for Children and Their Grown-Ups, I found that the books have quite a bit of overlap so you probably only need one. Roots Shoots Buckets & Boots will give you the steps for planting a Sunflower House among other fun parnet and child gardening projects. Fun! Ages 5-10 with an adult.
This is all about planting a garden and then watching what happens. Lots of seeds, sprouts, beetles, worms, bugs, wild flowers, garden tools, etc., are identified. Well done! Best for ages 2-5.
Blue Potatoes, Orange Tomatoes: How to Grow a Rainbow Garden by Rosalind Creasy, Ruth Heller (illustrator)
What I loved about this book was that it focused on “unusual” colored food, making it interesting to children, and adding fun to gardening (plus cooking) with heirloom and rare vegetables.
The text is aimed at older children, but parents can interest younger children. The illustrations by Ruth Heller are lovely, making the book lively.
The first half of the book covers general gardening, the last half is rainbow vegetables, specifically offering a recipe for each vegetable profiled. Short, but sweetly done. I love the “How to request a seed catalog letter”. Age 6-8+
A young boy learns that if he wants pancakes, he has to gather all of the ingredients himself. From a request for flour he learns to cut, thresh and grind wheat. This hits a home run for showing a child that food is a lot more complicated than something from a box at a supermarket. Best for ages 3-6.
The Rose in My Garden
by Arnold Lobel, Anita Lobel (Illustrator)
Teaches how to identify about a dozen flowers a la This is the Garden that Jack Built - style ABC book.
Best for ages 2-4+.
ABCs with
gorgeous floral illustrations.
Ages 2-4+
gorgeous floral illustrations.
Ages 2-4+
Molly and Emmett's Surprise Garden
by Marylin Hafner
Now out-of-print but a really fun book from the creator of Molly & Emmett (who appear on the back of Ladybug Magazine). Grandma sends seeds to Molly for a spring garden and Emmett tries to help - voila a surprise garden is born!
Tops & Bottoms
by Janet Stevens
A Caldecott Honor Book. The story of a clever rabbit who grows a garden for lazy bear each year, keeping the tops and bottoms and finally middles. Bear learns a valuable lesson that growing food takes work and that some crops produce edible tops, bottoms or middles. Fun!
Williams-Sonoma Kids in the Kitchen: Fun Foods
