Do you have a child that wants to help in the kitchen or wants to try cooking on their own? Perhaps you just want to learn some more kid friendly dishes or are hoping to get some help from your children in the kitchen? The library has a wide variety of cookbooks in the children’s section. There are books that focus on ethnic food, special diets, celebrity chefs, and even some more unexpected themes. Check some out to help inspire or teach your children about cooking, and just might make cooking less of a chore and much more fun for you as well.

Noodlemania!: 50 Playful Pasta Recipes by Melissa Barlow, photographs by Zac Williams and illustrations by Alison Oliver.
The American-style recipes range from the everyday to the elegant, and the six chapters are divided according to the class of pasta needed for the recipes. Most ingredients are readily available, and the recipes are simple to make, given the adult supervision. Barlow adds twists to dishes to indeed make them playful (making robots out of macaroni and pretzels, etc.).

ChopChop: The Kids’ Guide to Cooking Real Food with your Family by Sally Sampson, photographs by Carl Tremblay.Simple, healthy, delicious dishes for children and parents to make together.

A Princess Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Kids by Sarah L. Schuette.
Provides instructions and close-up step photos for making a variety of simple snacks and drinks with a princess theme

A Pirate Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Kids by Sarah L. Schuette.
Provides instructions and close-up photos for making a variety of simple snacks and drinks with a pirate theme

One World Kids Cookbook: Easy, Healthy, and Affordable Family Meals by Sean Mendez. This healthy eating cookbook is aimed at encouraging young people to think about what they eat through emphasizing the importance of a balanced diet. It contains kitchen tips and suggests vegetarian substitutes to the meat recipes. One World Kids Cookbook aims to instill a passion for good, wholesome, healthy food as well as a passion for life. Includes fabulous dishes from around the world, from jollof rice to fajitas.

Salad People and More Real Recipes: A New Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up by Mollie Katzen.  Introduces children as young as three the basics of cooking.

Want even more ideas? Our variety of cookbooks is staggering. Here a few more notable samples of the culinary fare offered up on the library shelves: Chinese Food by Wendy Blaxland, The Young Chef’s Italian Cookbook by Rosalba Gioffre, The Kids’ Holiday Baking Book: 150 Favorite Dessert Recipes from Around the World by Rosemary Black, Cooking the Swiss Way by Helga Hughes with photographs by Robert L. and Diane Wolfe, Cool Raw Food Recipes: Delicious & Fun Foods without Cooking by Nancy Tuminelly, The Multicultural Cookbook for Students by Lois Sinaiko Webb and Lindsay Grace Roten, Paula Deen’s Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set by Paula Deen with Martha Nesbit, illustrated by Susan Mitchell, Emeril’s There’s a Chef in my World!: Recipes that Take you Places by Emeril Lagasse and illustrated by Charles Yuen with photographs by Quentin Bacon, Grandpa’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Cookbook written by Judi Barrett and drawn by Ron Barrett, Cool Nut-Free Recipes: Delicious & Fun Foods without Nuts by Nancy Tuminelly, Cooking Rocks!: Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids by Rachael Ray and illustrated by Chris Kalb, Vegetarian Food by Susannah Blake, and Kids Cook 1-2-3: Recipes for Young Chefs Using Only 3 Ingredients by Rozanne Gold and illustrated by Sara Pinto.