These charming food focused books are definitely worth a trip to the library to check out.  We love a good meal in my house and even more we love a good book about food.  In a recent post, I shared about how my girls love to cook and be in on the food prep in our house, whether it’s helping us choose fresh foods and new foods to try at the local market, or it is actually getting aprons on and spoons ready to help make the food.  Sometimes it isn’t possible to have little helping hands, so I like to make sure that we can spend some time reading about food to inspire future cooking projects.   Here are our top picks in books about food:

Julia, Child – Kyo Maclear with illustrator Julie Morstad have created one of the most charming books I have picked up in a while.  Everyone is familiar with the name Julia Child, this book is not so much about Julia Child, but about a little girl who loves being a little girl and loves cooking with butter.  It is a sweet story about two friends who don’t want to grow up and through their love of cooking may just create a solution to never growing old.  This book would be a lovely pairing with a boeuf bourguignon!  Check out this fabulous video of the one and only making one of her signature dishes.  With the weather getting cold this might be the perfect multi-step dinner to make with the petites.

Food Trucks! –This quirky book is perfect for the hip petite foodie who has a severe love of food trucks.  Living in Seattle, we definitely have a love affair with out many food trucks, we religiously follow them and know their weekly locations so we can get a quick fix of delicious food.  Mark Todd, does a fabulous job of showcasing these delicious trucks.  My petite loves the pretzel truck page and how silly the truck looks.  I think this book does a great job of talking about different kinds of foods, my hope in this is that the fun pictures will provoke curiosity and interest in trying these new foods.  One other aspect that is so fantastic is there are fun facts on each page.  Who doesn’t love fun facts about food and food trucks?

Bee-Bim Bop! – Linda Sue Park and Ho Baek Lee have created a classic that is loved by so many children and parents alike.  This book has a very rhythmic text that just begs to be read aloud.  This book shows the preparations that are necessary for making this delicious dish.  As a parent, I also feel like this book is incredibly realistic, with the rushing to the store, hurrying to make dinner, I love that Linda Sue Park decided to make this  fantastic but very relatable story.

I love this book because it shows how much fun it can be to go shopping and make food with your family at home.

Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss needs no introduction, so I will tell you some fun facts and give you some fun pairings.  Green Eggs and Ham, according to Scholastic is in the top 10 best children’s books.  It currently sits at number seven.  Did you know that there are only fifty words used in the entire book?  It’s true, it was a bet between Dr. Seuss and his editor that he wouldn’t be able to write an intelligent book using only fifty words?  He did and won the $50 bet.

During its 50th anniversary in 2010 it was estimated that 200 million copies of this book had been sold.  Check out some of these super fun ideas for things to do when you’re done reading book.  For all the petite Seuss lovers, check out these fun activities that can be done.  Perfect for a rainy day activity.

I Can Eat a Rainbow -Annabel Karmel does a fabulous job in this vibrant board book that has been a favorite of both my daughters, recently my five-year old was showing it to her little sister and was telling her all about the fruits and vegetables and which ones they like to eat and enjoy.  One of my favorite parts about this book is that the veggies and fruits shown are not just the standards, they have some fun foods that your petite might like to try.

Another thing that we love about this book is how they have made animals out of the fruits and vegetables, it makes it all the more fun for little ones to look through and see their favorite fruits as a rabbit or beans as frogs.  This book is also really easy for little fingers to manipulate, the color tabs of make it easy to turn the pages on their own.  I guarantee the petites will love this book and may even take a nibble out of some of the colorful images.

I find that when I take my little ones to the store (this of course, is not every time), when I spend time showing them fruits or vegetables and talking about what we are seeing they are so much more engaged in the food procuring process.  My five-year old loves to make complex dinners or desserts because there are lots of steps and opportunities for her to contribute to the meal prep.  I’ve even taken her to the store and let her choose a whole meal,  she had a blast picking vegetables and a meat and of course making silly suggestions.  I think the silly suggestions were her favorite part.

Of course, these are just a few of my petites favorite books.  They all inspire little ones to try new things, to be excited about shopping and making food.  Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget to tell me about some of your favorite books about making food.  Let me know in the comments, I am always looking for new books.

Bon Appetit!

Erin