Plant, Cook, Eat! A Children’s Cookbook

In this affirming gardening and recipe book, horticulturalist Archer and food writer Craig offer a garden-to-table approach to eating. Introductory topics include seeds, soil and compost, plant reproduction, and sowing seeds both outside and indoors. Subsequent sections provide instructions and photographs detailing how to grow 16 vegetables (“Harvest once the leaves die back and you can see the swollen onions”). Recipes follow the descriptions of planting and harvesting each vegetable: kale pesto pasta, cranberry bean burgers, chocolate beet cake, and other dishes. Color photographs of children eating and gardening appear throughout. With an easy-to-read presentation and thorough details, Archer and Craig put the power to grow and prepare food in readers’ hands while driving home connections between what we grow and what we eat. Ages 7–10. (Mar.)