Children's books and activities

Cooking and Food

Do you know any budding gourmet chefs or kids who are curious about food traditions from around the world? We've gathered up a great collection of books, activities, apps, and websites for learning all about cooking and food.

Try pairing fiction with nonfiction books and exploring different genres (like poetry and biographies) and formats (like graphic novels and audio books). You'll be creating your own "text sets" — collections of texts focused on a specific topic, such as cooking and food. Reading widely in this way helps children build background knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.

Cooking and Food

Great Fiction & Nonfiction Books

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao

By:
Kat Zhang
Illustrated by: Charlene Chua

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Anywhere Farm

By:
Phyllis Root
Illustrated by: G. Brian Karas

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic

By:
Ginnie Lo
Illustrated by: Beth Lo

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Bee-Bim Bop!

By:
Linda Sue Park
Illustrated by: Ho Baek Lee

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis

By:
Robbin Gourley

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Chicken Sunday

By:
Patricia Polacco

Age Level: 3-6 years old

cover of "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" showing man with umbrella catching a meatball falling from a cloud

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

By:
Judi Barrett
Illustrated by: Ron Barrett

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Common Threads: Adam's Day at the Market

By:
Huda Essa
Illustrated by: Mercè Tous

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Cook-A-Doodle-Do!

By:
Janet Stevens
Illustrated by: Susan Stevens Crummel

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Cooking Art: Easy Edible Art for Young Children

By:
Mary Ann Kohl
, Jean Potter
Illustrated by: Ronnie Roseman-Hall

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Dim Sum for Everyone

By:
Grace Lin

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Easy as Pie

By:
Cari Best
Illustrated by: Melissa Sweet

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Green Eggs and Ham

By:
Dr. Seuss

Age Level: 3-6 years old

drawing of two children taking care of a chili plant

Green Is a Chile Pepper

By:
Roseanne Thong
Illustrated by: John Parra

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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How Did That Get in My Lunchbox? The Story of Food

By:
Lucia Gaggiotti

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Pie Is for Sharing

By:
Stephanie Parsley Ledyard
Illustrated by: Jason Chin

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Rainbow Stew

By:
Cathryn Fallwell

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Strega Nona's Harvest

By:
Tomie DePaola

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Take Me to Your BBQ

By:
Kathy Duval
Illustrated by: Adam McCauley

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Book cover for Thank You, Omu!

Thank You, Omu!

By:
Oge Mora

Age Level: 3-6 years old

The Food Parade: Healthy Eating with Nutritious Food Groups

By:
Elicia Castaldi

Age Level: 3-6 years old

illustrated cover of the Honey Maker showing a bee and flowers

The Honey Makers

By:
Gail Gibbons

Age Level: 3-6 years old

illustrated cover of "The Honeybee Man" showing a man in a bee keeper's outfit

The Honeybee Man

By:
Lela Nargi
Illustrated by: Kyrsten Brooker

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Tyler Makes a Birthday Cake

By:
Tyler Florence
Illustrated by: Craig Frazier

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Watercress

By:
Andrea Wang
Illustrated by: Jason Chin

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past

By:
Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrated by: Diane Greenseid

Age Level: 3-6 years old

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Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar?

By:
George Shannon
Illustrated by: Julie Paschkis

Age Level: 3-6 years old

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child

By:
Jessie Hartland

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Eating Fractions

By:
Bruce MacMillan

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Emeril's There's a Chef in My Soup!

By:
Emeril Lagasse
Illustrated by: Charles Yuen

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Fannie in the Kitchen

By:
Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrated by: Nancy Farmer

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table

By:
Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Illustrated by: Eric-Shabazz Larkin

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Food Trucks!

By:
Mark Todd

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Fresh Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers’ Market

By:
Michelle Schaub
Illustrated by: Amy Huntington

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by Dr. Seuss

By:
Georgeanne Brennan
Illustrated by: Frankie Frankeny

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood

By:
Tony Hillery
Illustrated by: Jessie Hartland

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Independence Cake

By:
Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrated by: Giselle Potter

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Jasmine Toguchi: Mochi Queen

By:
Debbi Michiko Florence
Illustrated by: Elizabet Vukovic

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual

By:
The authors of Klutz
Illustrated by: Jim McGuinness

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Kids' Multicultural Cookbook: Food and Fun Around the World

By:
Deanna Cook

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Little Kitchen: 40 Delicious and Simple Things That Children Can Really Make

By:
Sabrina Parrini

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Maddi's Fridge

By:
Lois Brandt
Illustrated by: Vin Vogel

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Nacho's Nachos: The Story Behind the World's Favorite Snack

By:
Sandra Nickel
Illustrated by: Oliver Dominguez

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Our Little Kitchen

By:
Jillian Tamaki

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Our School Garden!

By:
Rick Swann
Illustrated by: Christy Hale

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott

By:
Dee Romito
Illustrated by: Laura Freeman

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Pinch and Dash Make Soup

By:
Michael Daley
Illustrated by: Thomas Yezerski

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Stone Soup

By:
Marcia Brown

Age Level: 6-9 years old

The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred

By:
Samantha Vamos
Illustrated by: Rafael López

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Hole Story of the Doughnut

By:
Pat Miller
Illustrated by: Vincent Kirsch

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Kids Can Press Jumbo Cookbook

By:
Judi Gilles
, Jennifer Glossap

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Ugly Vegetables

By:
Grace Lin

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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The Vegetables We Eat

By:
Gail Gibbons

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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To Market, to Market

By:
Nikki McClure
Illustrated by: Nikki McClure

Age Level: 6-9 years old

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Watch Me Grow! A Down-to-Earth Look at Growing Food in the City

By:
Deborah Hodge

Age Level: 6-9 years old

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Cool World Cooking: Fun and Tasty Recipes for Kids!

By:
Lisa Wagner

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Fanny in France: Travel Adventures of a Chef's Daughter, with Recipes

By:
Alice Waters
Illustrated by: Ann Arnold

Age Level: 9-12 years old

National Geographic Cookbook: A Year-Round Fun Food Adventure

By:
Barton Seaver

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Phineas L. MacGuire Gets Cooking

By:
Frances O’Roark Dowell
Illustrated by: Preston McDaniels

Age Level: 9-12 years old

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Rutabaga the Adventure Chef

By:
Eric Colossal

Age Level: 9-12 years old

The World in Your Lunch Box: The Wacky History and Weird Science of Everyday Foods

By:
Claire Eamer
Illustrated by: Sa Boothroyd

Age Level: 9-12 years old