Skip to main content

Five Faves: Favorite Picture Books Focusing on Food and Family

Image
By

Next month is a month where my family will plan lots of time together—most of which will be spent eating food together. And I wouldn’t be the librarian I am without sharing this list of great titles where food and family are the focus of each story. So, pull up a snack and settle in to read these five picture books that just might make you pull your loved ones closer while also reaching for a snack! 

Written by Winsome Bingham 
Illustrated by C. G. Esperanza 
New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025. Picture Book.

The young kid who is out of school for a Friday gets to spend the day with Granny. On Fridays, Granny goes and catches fish to use for the family fish fry on Friday nights. The narrator loves spending time with Granny as she teaches about fishing, filleting, and frying up good times with food and family. 

By Tim Kleyn 
New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. Picture Book. 

In this story a young girl named Margot and her grandfather wait on their island during a storm for the girl’s mother to come home on her boat. Other sailors come and need a place to wait out the storm…so Margot and Grandpa make grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone. This story tells about love for family and strangers/friends and how good food can help fill in all the gaps. 

Written by Shruthi Rao 
Illustrated by Darshika Varma 
Salem, MA: Page Street Kids, 2024. Picture Book. 

Kabir gets a basket full of a tasty treat called kadooboo to take home to his Amma; however, along the way Kabir keeps forgetting the name of the treat. (He calls it things like “book-oo-doo”, “dub-oo-koo”, or “duck-oo-boo”.) Eventually, he makes it home to Amma and they eat the tasty food while he remembers just what it is called. 

Written by Jeanette Fazzari Jones 
Illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett 
New York: Two Lions, 2024. Picture Book. 

Felicia’s grandpa has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t always remember things. But he does love to cook—especially spaghetti and meatballs. As Felicia and Grandma start cooking, Grandpa slowly starts to remember how to help and who Felicia is. This is a warm tale of a loving family and how food can help make and keep memories. 

Written by Kyo Maclear 
Illustrated by Gracey Zhang 
New York: Random House Studio, 2024. Picture Book. 

This is a beautiful book (that won a Caldecott Honor) about soba deliverymen who go around the city delivering towers of trays holding noodles people have ordered. And of course, there is one particular soba deliveryman that is special to the children in this book, who watch for him to come to their house. Kids who like to try their hand at physical feats and love the idea of a family spending time together slurping noodles, will think this is a great book to read.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Fowl Play

By
  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: A Game of Noctis

By
A Game of Noctis By Deva Fagan New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. Fiction. 310 pages. On the island of Dantessa, social standings and wealth are determined by your place in the Great Game. If you keep on winning, you can reap treasures, power, and security for yourself and your family; but if you lose too many games, you'll be exiled to Pawn Island and a life of servitude. That's what happens to 12-year-old Pia's grandfather. Due to poor vision, he struggles to see the games, but also can't afford new eyeglasses without winning. When his score falls to zero, he is sent away. Desperate to bring him back, Pia joins a ragtag group of misfits to form a team for the annual game of Noctis. The game requires contestants to perform dangerous challenges in front of a live audience, and no one outside the wealthy Diamond District has ever won. Each member of Pia's team, the Seafoxes, has their own reason to compete, but if they're going to win they'll h...
Post a Comment
Read more