Salad People and More Real Recipes : A New Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up

This is the second in a fun and very cookable series of cookbooks that offer kids a chance to improve their reading skills along with their kitchen skills.

Like its predecessor, Pretend Soup, Salad People offers all its recipes in two formats: the long-form that adults are used to from most cookbooks, and a series of instructional panels that demonstrate each step in the recipe through a cute drawing and a few simple words, giving kids a chance to read recipes on their own and to feel accomplished as both cooks and readers.

All the choices here are vegetarian, and since getting kids to help make a recipe is a great way to encourage them to overcome a reluctance to eat new things, the book offers a fun way to diversify a child's diet and eating habits. More important, though, is that they will have fun choosing between and making things such as tiny tacos, sweet potato surprise, polka dot rice, and broccoli cheese quiche.

Also worth checking out is Honest Pretzels, the third volume in this set, which is written for kids with stronger reading and cooking skills.

Hardcover. Color illustrations throughout.