While drafting a list of fictional cooks, I thought I'd post this review, which actually predates this blog. Enjoy.

The popular publishing house Pleasant Company created the American Girls book series for young girls over a decade ago. Since then, they have branched out, creating fiction and non-fiction books for kids of all ages.

The Mix-It-Up Cookbook introduces children to various basic recipes, such as pancakes, milkshakes, burritos, pizzas and macaroni. The colorful illustrations and straightforward instructions are both eye-catching and informative. The recipes are simple and the meals are healthy, not to mention yummy. Each recipe offers various ways to "mix it up." For example, prepare some scrambled eggs, add them to a warm flour tortilla and voila - you have a breakfast burrito all ready to go.

The book is also spiral-bound, meaning that it will lay flat on the countertop while you cook. This leaves both hands available to cut, mix and stir. Rather than trying to balance ingredients, bowls and utensils in one hand while propping the book open with the other hand, show kids that both hands should be available to cook. That will further reinforce kitchen safety.

From tossing a simple salad to setting the table, there are many ways to include all family members in mealtime. Get your kids in the kitchen and teach them how to be safe, how to follow instructions, and how to cook. Encourage them to make up their own fun dishes (within reason, of course) and you may soon turn your reluctant helper into a willing kitchen aide. Who knows -- you might have a future chef on your hands and not know it.

Now, if you are feeling really adventurous, have your munchkins help you prepare next week's grocery list!

Related Booklist: Cooking Up a Storm

Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw is a modern-day retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac in which the protagonist remotely woos his dream girl with pastries instead of poetry.

Cyril, a teenage boy with a flair for cooking, hopes to make it into a culinary academy after high school. He also wants to make it onto Rose's radar. Rose is quiet and cool, easy to talk to, but Cyril would rather freeze up than admit his feelings for her. When his friend Nick also falls for Rose, Cyril finds himself whipping up tasty treats for the girl and helping Nick pretend that HE made them instead.

The main characters are all offbeat high school students without being stereotypes. For example, instead of being the most popular girl in school or conforming to the norm, Rose is a Bohemian girl, with glasses and swirly skirts. With steady pacing, a sweet conclusion, and mouthwatering recipes - including kitchen-sink cookies and butter-and-sugar sandwiches - between chapters, readers will be drawn to the kitchen and to the characters. Hopefully, they'll check out the original Cyrano too -- after they've had dinner.

Related Booklist: Cooking Up a Storm

Want to encourage your little chef to read a good book? Have a young baker in the family? Give her or him one of the following pieces of fiction, many of which include recipes between chapters, all of which will make readers' mouths water!

For teens
A La Carte by Tanita S. Davis
Crush du Jour by Micol Ostow
Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw
Girls Dinner Club by Jessie Elliot

Fun fact: A La Carte and Crush du Jour both star girls named Laine.

For kids
My Chocolate Year by Charlotte Herman, with illustrations by LeUyen Pham
Dish series by Diane Muldrow
The American Girls Mix-It Up Cookbook

For more cookbooks
Visit The YA YA YAs: Teen Cookbooks

For fun
Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel - If you have yet to read Mouse Soup, you must. I do not care how old you are, you must read it right now. In this hilarious story for early readers, a cunning mouse convinces his would-be captor and consumer that mouse soup won't taste good without stories in it (hello, Scheherazade!), so he proceeds to tell silly story after silly story until . . . well, let's just say Bugs Bunny would be proud!

Trivia: Do you remember the Sisters series by Jennifer Cole? I do. It came out in 1980s. Book #9 was entitled Too Many Cooks.

I almost called this booklist Cooking the Books.