Soup Day

Written by Melissa Iwai

Melissa Iwai is fast becoming one of my favorite authors! She writes and illustrates engaging books about preparing food with the family. Some of the many attributes of her books are:

• they have sturdy, hard-to-ruin pages, which is important when the recipe is included, and the book will be used as you prepare the food;

• the illustrations are realistic;

• they offer ideas for spending time together while the meal cooks;

• they include the process for getting the ingredients, whether it be from planting seeds to harvesting foods or going to the grocery store to find and gather them to take home;

• the illustrations show the steps to preparing the food;

• the parent allows the child to choose certain ingredients, such as which kind of pasta to use;

• the author includes using the senses of taste, sight, and hearing as the food is being cooked; and

• clean-up is part of the process.

Can you see why I love this book and others that she has written?

I recommend it for children two years old through lower elementary. It can be purchased from most book suppliers.