French Food

January 1, 2012
Grades 5-8 The books in the I Can Cook! series are definitely not the ones to usher kids into their first foray into the kitchen. The recipes haven't been particularly leveled-down into kid-friendly versions, which is actually a refreshing counterpoint to kids' cookbooks that simplify things to a fault. Of course, this means adults will need to be on hand at all times (a red oven-mitt icon pops up for all the cutting, frying, and boiling parts). Aside from the recipes themselves, each book presents a good amount of information on the geography, food staples, and even culture of each region. A fittingly fresh-and-local mentality dominates French Food, though the recipes sidestep haute cuisine in favor of crowd-pleasing dishes like croque-monsieurs, crepes, and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Each recipe features helpful digital step-by-step illustrations and ideas for variations, underlining the fact that cooking is a creative process. Even if the cooking overwhelms, these overstuffed books can find use from a purely multicultural angle.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)