Books for Independent Reading
VERY EASY
- Pass the Fritters, Critters
- by Cheryl Chapman
Four Winds 1993 (40p)
None of the critters will pass the
fritters till they hear the magic word:
“please.”
- Tasting Things
- by Alan Fowler
Childrens 1992 (32p)
A Simple Science book explains one of
the most important senses. Available
in Spanish asEl gusto de las cosas.
- Green Corn Tamales/Tamales de elote
- by Gina Rodríguez
(Multicultural)
Hispanic Books 1994 (36p)
A Hispanic American family gathers
every year at their nana's to make
tamales.
- Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and
Vegetables from A to Z
- by Lois Ehlert
(Multicultural)
Harcourt 1989 (32p)
Different fruits or vegetables, many
unusual, are pictured for each letter of
the alphabet.
- The First Strawberries: A Cherokee
Story
- by Joseph Bruchac
(Multicultural)
Dial 1993 (32p)
Delicious strawberries prompt the first
man and woman to make peace after a
quarrel.
- A Chef
- by Douglas Florian
Greenwillow 1991 (32p)
An informative, step-by-step
description of a chef's day.
EASY
- Mr. Putter and Tabby Bake the Cake
- by Cynthia Rylant
Harcourt 1994 (44p); also paper
Mr. Putter and his cat bake a
Christmas fruitcake for their neighbor.
- Stone Soup
- by Marcia Brown
Scribner's 1947 (48p); Aladdin 1986
paper
A favorite classic. Available in
Spanish asSopa de piedras.
- The Popcorn Book
- by Tomie dePaola
Holiday 1993 (28p)
Tony and Tim give a brief history of
popcorn. Available in Spanish asEl
libro de las palomitas de maíz.
- Little Nino's Pizzeria
- by Karen Barbour
Harcourt 1987 (32p); Voyager 1990
paper
After their pizza business expands,
Tony's family learns that bigger is not
always better.
- Seven Loaves of Bread
- by Ferida Wolff
Tambourine 1993 (32p)
When Milly gets sick and Rose does
the baking, the entire farm starts to go
hungry.
- How to Make an Apple Pie and See
the World
- by Marjorie Priceman
(Multicultural)
Knopf 1994 (32p)
A closed market doesn't daunt a girl
determined to find the ingredients for
apple pie.
- May'naise Sandwiches & Sunshine
Tea
- by Sandra Belton
(Multicultural)
Four Winds 1994 (32p)
Big Mama shares with her
granddaughter memories of a special
lunch she shared with a friend when
she was a girl.
- Goody O'Grumpity
- by Carol Ryrie Brink
North-South 1994 (32p)
When Goody O'Grumpity bakes her
spice cake, all the children come
running to have a taste.
- Mel's Diner
- by Marissa Moss
(Multicultural)
Bridgewater 1994
Mabel, who loves helping out in her
parents' diner, wants to have her own
diner when she grows up.
AVERAGE
- Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes
Later)
- by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
(Multicultural)
Clarion 1991 (32p)
Sara and Susan's visits to Aunt Flossie
end with delicious crab cakes.
- Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the
Stolen Corn Popper
- by David A. Adler
Puffin 1992 (64p)
Cam is sure she knows who stole the
corn popper from the department store.
- The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating
Every Day
- by Loreen Leedy
(Science/Health)
Holiday 1994
Learn the right things to eat at a
restaurant called The Edible Pyramid.
- Sunday Potatoes, Monday Potatoes
- by Vicky Schiefman
Simon 1994 (40p)
Plain old potatoes every day and then
on Sunday -- potato pudding! Recipe
included.
- Peas and Honey: Recipes for Kids
(With a Pinch of Poetry)
- by Kimberly Colen
Boyds Mills 1995
Simple recipes, plus poems by Jack
Prelutsky, Aileen Fisher, and others.
- The Rajah's Rice: A Mathematical
Folktale from India
- by David Barry
(Multicultural)
Freeman 1994 (32p)
Chandra outwits the Rajah by using her
math knowledge.
- The Rattlebang Picnic
- by Margaret Mahy
Dial 1994 (32p)
When the McTavish family runs into
trouble, Granny's rock-hard pizza gets
them out of a jam.
- What's Cooking, Jenny Archer?
- by Ellen Conford
Little 1989; also paper
Jenny whips up trouble when she starts
a catering business.
- Latkes and Applesauce
- by Fran Manushkin
Scholastic 1990 (32p); also paper
A blizzard ruins a poor family's apples
and potatoes, but not their celebration
of Hanukkah.
- How Pizza Came to Queens
- by Dayal Kaur Khalsa
Crown 1989 (32p)
When Mrs. Pellegrino visits from
Italy, she brings along a delicious new
recipe.
- Dumpling Soup
- by Jama Kim Rattigan
(Multicultural)
Little 1993 (32p)
Every New Year's Eve, Marisa's family
gathers at Grandma's for dumpling
soup.
- Oh, How Waffle! Riddles You Can
Eat
- by Judith Matthews and Ray Robinson
Holiday 1992 (32p)
Delicious puns and wordplay abound in
the book of food riddles.
- Carlos and the Squash Plant/Carlos y
la planta calabaza
- by Jan Romero Stevens
(Multicultural)
Northland 1993 (32p)
After ignoring his mother's warnings
about washing, Carlos finds a squash
plant growing from his ear. In English
and Spanish.
- Bamboo Hats and a Rice Cake
- by Ann Tompert
(Multicultural)
Crown 1993 (32p)
A poor couple sells a kimono to buy
the traditional good luck rice cake.
- Siggy's Spaghetti Works
- by Peggy Thomson
Tambourine 1993 (32p)
Children tour a spaghetti factory and
learn the history of spaghetti and how
it's made.
- Roses Sing on New Snow
- by Paul Yee
(Multicultural)
Macmillan 1992 (32p)
Maylin finally receives recognition for
cooking in her father's restaurant.
- Chocolate by Hershey
- by Betty Furford
(Social Studies)
Carolrhoda 1994 (64p)
A biography about the man who
invented the famous Hershey bar.
- Foods We Eat series
- by various authors
(Science/Health)
Carolrhoda 1989 -- 1990 (32p)
Each book covers a different food, its
cultivation, and nutritional values.
- Cranberries: Fruit of the Bog
- by Diane L. Burns
(Social Studies)
Carolrhoda 1994 (48p)
Children learn where and how
cranberries are grown in the story of
cranberry farming in Wisconsin.
- Corn Belt Harvest
- by Raymond Bial
(Social Studies)
Houghton 1991 (48p)
The planting, cultivation, and
harvesting of corn is traced through the
seasons.
- The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild
Rice Gathering
- by Gordon Regguinti
(Multicultural)
Lerner 1992 (48p); also paper
A young Ojibway boy goes to his first
wild rice harvest with his father.
Books for Teachers to Read Aloud
- Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition
- by Russell M. Peters
(Multicultural)
Lerner 1992 (48p); also paper
Steven, a Mashpee Wampanoag, hosts a
clambake for his friends and relatives.
- The Pizza Mystery
- by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Whitman 1993 (128p); also paper
In this Boxcar Children mystery,
someone is trying to put Piccolo's
Pizzeria out of business.
- Eating the Plates: A Pilgrim Book of
Food and Manners
- by Lucille R. Penner
(Social Studies)
Macmillan 1991
A look at the household life of the
Pilgrims, including what and how they
ate.