BABY PUREES AND TODDLER MEALS

Hi grownups.  Are you tired of feeding your baby or toddler the same foods over and over?  Why not explore our new baby and toddler food books in our Parenting Collection?  These simple to use books offer hundreds of baby purees and toddler meals.

Why not try avocado soup or coconut rice with your little one?  Is your baby teething?  Around the World in 80 Purees: Easy Recipes for Global Baby Food by Leena Saini has a Peach Teething “Ice Cream” that you might like to try.

As your little one gets older try some of the toddler recipes in 201 Organic Baby and Toddler Meals: The Healthiest Toddler and Baby Food Recipes You Can Make by Tamika L. Gardner.  Your toddler might enjoy the Cinnamon Watermelon Bowl or the Veggie and Hummus Platter.

You can explore these books and many more in our Parenting Collection.

A NEW ITALIAN COOKBOOK (FOR US)

The Silver Spoon for Children: Favorite Italian Recipes by Phaidon is presented in the style of the Moosewood Cookbook series, with simple text and illustrated cooking techniques easy enough for the beginning cook to follow.   There are great classic recipes like potato gnocchi, leg of lamb, and stew, just to name a few.  It's a beautiful book with photos of each finished dish so you can see what the dish will or should look like at the end of the cooking process.  It's a slim, large formatted book which will lay flat so that it is easy to read from as you cook, just put plastic over it so the next person can enjoy it stain free.   

For ages 10 and up. 

JUST SAY IT LIKE IT IS

Just say it like it is is GiGi's motto.  

In life, there's always the unexpected events and the secrets that keep people from saying it like it is. these things make a person think of the what ifs.  

What if there are secrets that you don't know about?  
What if she made a new friend?  
What if the mean girl is not mean anymore?  
What if your Mama is not who you thought she was?
What if someone lies to you?

Tucked between a collection of recipes from her mom is the search for new beginnings, old secrets and a world turned upside down.  The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yeh is a great realistic and angst ridden story for readers in 6th-8th grades. 

Spoiler alert!!! 
There's teen pregnancy, gay best friend, adoption and rebellious children.  

ALL FOUR STARS

Passionate for Food? OR Are You a Food Critic?

Gladys Gatsby, an eleven year old, found herself in the middle of her kitchen, caught by her parents who displayed a shocking, disbelief when they found the kitchen curtains on fire. How? Well, all Gladys was trying to do was bake creme brulee!  Thanks to her aunt Lydia from Paris, Gladys' passion for baking started at the age of six.  Gladys would cook and bake while her parents were at work and they were completely unaware of her active role as a "chef." Gladys' passion was so strong that she could not keep away from the kitchen. She knew that her parents would disapprove of her using any kitchen appliances; this was a big no-no. However, the creme brulee disaster revealed her baking secrets and put an end to the kitchen activities for six months. Gladys' punishment included making friends, spending time on the computer among other ridiculous activities. 

Join Gladys as she goes through a series of crazy adventures to follow her passion and find out what Gladys would become.   

Tara Dairman's, All Four Stars is a fun, light read that encourages everyone to chase after their goals. 

For readers in grades 4-7.

OOH-YUM-YUM!

Alfie and his sister Emilia have the best great-aunt Zia ever.  When she visits, she makes them feel loved, cooks delicious foods, and adds a little magic to their lives.  Zia's magic lands Alfie and Emilia in the middle of Paris and straight into a French Cooking School where they must pass their lessons and eat delicious foods while trying to figure out how to get back home to America before Alfie's big soccer game on Saturday.

In the spirit of the Magic Tree House series, kids in 3rd and 4th grade can become a foodie along with Alfie and Emilia in Giada De Laurentiis's new series, Recipe for Adventure.  The first two books, Naples! and Paris! can be found in the J Paperbacks under the letter D.  Each book also comes with two recipe cards in the back for you to enjoy the same Zia creations as Alfie and Emilia.

READING IS SO DELICIOUS...ESPECIALLY WITH SOUP

Jayna, or Gingersnap as her mother liked to call her, is an excellent soup maker.  She knows just the soup for every occasion and can make a soup with whatever happens to be in the fridge - even if its just a carrot and some soup stock.  Which is a good thing, since it's 1945 and food is being rationed due to World War II.  Some days, it feels like there isn't ever enough to eat - and there is never enough sugar or butter to make cakes and cookies.  Cooking and baking remind Jayna of her brother, Rob, who shipped out with the Navy as a cook and is her only family.  Jayna and Rob's parents both died in a car accident, leaving the kids to bounce from foster home to foster home until Rob was old enough to adopt Jayna.  Now that Rob is somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Jayna has to live with their landlady, Celia, who is too concerned with Jayna's manners and safety.

Jayna feels all alone in the great big world - that is until she starts hearing a ghost speak to her.  The ghost comes and goes, but tells Jayna she's there to help her find a family.  She encourages Jayna to go into Rob's closet where she finds a cookbook that Jayna believes belonged to her mother and there the adventure to find her family begins.

Kids in 4th grade and up can follow Jayna as she leaves upstate New York in search of a grandmother she never knew but desperately wants to find in Gingersnap by Patricia Reilly Giff.

READING IS DELICIOUS...BUT NOT FROM A CAN

High schooler Linda has been by her aunt's side since she was a baby, but now aunt Elba is sick and she being sent thousands of miles away to Aunt Pat's in Pittsburgh. Aunt Pat is famous on public television for cooking from cans, which Linda can't understand because she and aunt Elba cook from scratch for their restaurant because that's how food should be made.  

Aunt Pat's house is full of adopted kids and everyone seems to appreciate her cooking except for Linda, who is marked from the beginning as "difficult".  Feeling homesick and misunderstood, she's got to figure out how to make things work in Pittsburgh since it looks like Aunt Elba's illness is worse than first thought and she will be staying MUCH longer than she wants.  

A fast fun read about how food is much more a part of life than one would ever think.  Sizzle: A Novel by Lee McClain is not just a cooking story but a story of empathy and friendships and how to put your own prejudices aside for the sake of others.  

For readers in 6th and up.  

SWALLOWED WHOLE

THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY by Kathryn Fitzmaurice is very well written for an author's first novel. Set in a small oceanside town, Eleanor "Groovy" Robinson witnesses her father being taken to jail. Turns out, it's her mother that's sent him there, and all of a sudden her normal world swirls into chaos. She's so upset she can't even do the one thing she loves - cooking. She discovers unlikely friends in peculiar people and places, and comes to terms with things not always being what they seem. Very easy to read, with vivid imagery and an engaging plot. For grades 4 and up.

A FOODIE MYSTERY

Who Stole Grandma's Million Dollar Pumpkin Pie? by Martha Freeman. A fourth Chickadee Court Mystery set during Thanksgiving, when all thoughts turn to pumpkin pie and other comforting family dishes. Yasmeen and Alex have to find out who stole his family's fantastic pumpkin pie recipe that's going to be featured on a television food show. But the two detectives are reluctant to investigate when they realize that all the suspects are either family members or friends who came to dinner at Alex's home. Everyone wanted their dish to be on T.V. , so everyone has a motive.

Be sure to read the others in the holiday series, like Who Stole Uncle Sam? especially with the July 4th holiday coming up. For readers in 4th grade and up.

FOLLOW THAT GOOSE!

All manner of cucumber foods are available at the annual Bloomsberry Cucumber Festival for free! Too bad Margaret isn't in the mood for stewed cucumbers, or cucumber casserole, or cucumber shakes. As Margaret is being forced to eat stewed cucumbers, she and her buddies discover a stolen necklace in the dish. Realizing that their neighbor would be accused of the theft, they follow her goose for clues all over town in order to catch the real thief.

A Recipe 4 Robbery by Marybeth Kelsey is a very pleasant old fashioned kind of mystery with lots of red herrings and narrow escapes. For readers 4th and older.