Cook with Amber

October 1, 2018

Gr 8 Up-Kelley, a Food Network Star Kids winner and YouTube cooking star, puts her exuberant stamp on a "feel-good" collection of recipes and daily tips for teens. Organized thematically, readers will uncover a mixture of simple and ambitious recipes emphasizing nourishing and fresh ingredients for both everyday routines and special occasions. The "Double-Duty Weeknight Dinners" section is a real star-showcasing how different delicious dinners, such as "Grilled Flank Steak and Veggies," easily become tomorrow's tasty "Steak and Veggie Wrap with Caper Dill Cream" lunch. Vibrant color photography of finished dishes as well as the author and her family/friends is found throughout but not always used in the most effective manner. Readers desiring some depictions of recipes in-progress will go wanting; they may also find recipe flow disrupted at times by full-page photographs. Along similar lines, the introduction takes on a bit more than it can chew, tasked with familiarizing readers with Kelley's backstory as well as expounding on kitchen tips, knife skills, and cooking safety advice. Teens may overlook these issues, though, as they gobble up the author's enthusiastic anecdotes before each recipe and follow along with time management tips involving different personal routines. Both metric and imperial measurements are given. VERDICT Appealing but perhaps limited in audience scope. Consider for public libraries looking to build a cookbook collection for teens.-Pearl Derlaga, York County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 29, 2018
Kelley, the teenage star of the online series Cook with Amber, debuts with a broad-ranging collection of recipes and tips for versatile and creative cooking. In addition to bright photographs of ingredients and the prepared recipes, she includes images of her family gatherings and her meetings with famed figures such as Michelle Obama (after Kelley won the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge in 2013). She offers ideas for festive occasions, including a Halloween party and “Springsgiving,” which her family began celebrating because “I absolutely love Thanksgiving, but around springtime, I start to crave those amazing holiday flavors again.” Ages 8–12.