Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes

Pretend soup and Other Real Recipes by Mollie Katzen contains nineteen easy-enough recipes for little hands including Zucchini Moons, Green Spaghetti, Polka Dot Rice, Hide and Seek Muffins, Number Salad and, of course, Pretend Soup (actually a chunky yoghurt smoothie), each with a little twist to amuse the little ones and nothing but healthy ingredients to please the grown-ups. 

Within each recipe is a guideline as you would normally see with a note to adults explaining some of the recipe's nutritional values, tips and tricks on processes and ways to involve children of all ages, cooking and safety advice to prevent issues in the kitchen, a list of ingredients and the actual recipe. But when you turn the page the recipe is transformed into a picture outline that young children can 'read' and follow along. Each illustrated recipe offers the child chef the oppurtunity to count, measure, mix, assemble, and most important, have fun. Designed as do-together projects - with the child as the chef and the adults taking a backseat - these kitchen adventures will give children the confidence to create their own concoctions in the kitchen.

I think this recipe book would appeal to children between the ages of three and seven. It's simple enough in all aspects (colour, illustrations, text) that younger children can get involved but may also provide customisation opportunities for adventurous children who may be older and not as challenged by the recipes. I think the colours and style of font keep the focus on the illustrations which are rendered in a way that they seem appealing and approachable to children, something that may be lost when photography is used.