Delicious Fiction Books About Food & Baking (for Kids)

Recipe for Adventure #1 Naples! by Giada De Laurentiis (ages 6 – 9)
Time travel back to Naples, Italy with siblings Emilia and Alfie where they discover a world of pizza and help a new friend and his family with the important missing ingredient. Includes two recipe cards. It’s a beginning chapter book about food that takes readers on a fun cooking adventure!

The Cupcake Diaries by Coco Simon (ages 7 – 10)
Each of the books in this series follows a different girl. In this first story, Katie is devastated when her BFF returns from camp with a new group of friends. So Katie decides to find other kids who seem lonely and start The Cupcake Club.

Rutabaga: The Adventure Chef, Feasts of Fury 2 by Eric Colossal (ages 7 – 10)
This is a delightful, quirky book about a young chef and his magical cooking pot named, uh, Pot. Rutabaga has several crazy adventures — finding the secret ingredient for a special soup (spider webs?!) and stopping costume-stealing, nasty gubblins from taking over the kingdom, and such. Each story comes with a recipe although they’re as kooky as these stories! Bubbling Bog Fondue with stinky cheese and Gubblin Snot! (smoothie) are just a few of the culinary delights shared in this book.  Yum?

For Emme, Baked with Love by Joy Laura Dower (ages 6 – 9)
Sweet both literally and figuratively, this series revolves around a special bakery and baker named Daisy who makes a difference in the lives of her customers. In this story, Emme is struggling with her parents’ separation and her argumentative two best friends. Daisy knows just what to cook and to say to help Emme find peace with her situation. I really liked that the ending was realistic and didn’t have Emme’s parents reuniting.

Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte, illustrated by Ann Xu (ages 8 – 12)
A beautiful graphic novel story of food, a close-knit, multigenerational family, finding your place in a new culture and country, and staying proud of your heritage…Cici moves to the U.S. from Tawain and wants her A’má to come, too. She hopes to win the grand prize in a cooking contest and use the money to buy her A’má a plane ticket. Cici wants to cook American food like her cooking contest partner…She learns from Julia Child, but in the end, Cici returns to her Tawainese roots to win the contest.

Recipe for Disaster by Aimee Lucido (ages 8 – 12)
A heart-warming story about family, faith, forgiveness, and learning to define yourself instead of letting others define you. Hannah, a girl who loves cooking and food, wants to figure out what being Jewish means. Since her mom forbids her to be Jewish, her Grandma helps her secretly study the Torah with Aunt Yael, a rabbi and a woman her mom considers to be evil. She’s upset that her dad and brother argue all the time, that her BFF dumps her, and that her new friend Vee experiences anti-Semitism graffiti on her house. I love Hannah’s view of people and the world as recipes as well as the important and relatable questions about heritage and faith.

All Four Stars by Tara Dairman (ages 8 – 12)
My daughter and I love this engaging food chapter book series about food-enthusiast Gladys who is suffering in a house of microwaving parents without a taste bud between them. Gladys not only appreciates good food but she loves to cook and wants to be a food critic. She already has lots of practice writing her daily notes about her parents’ horrid creations. Then, when a mix-up in a writing contest has the editors of a paper thinking she’s an adult, she’s hired as a real reviewer! Can she actually write a published review without letting anyone know she’s 10 years old? The entire series is finished and excellent!

Lights Camera Cook! by Charise Mericle Harper (ages 8 – 12)
Who will win this cooking contest reality show? Find out what happens during the show as the four contestants cook and compete. Readers will also find cooking tips such as how to cut with different techniques. Chapters are interspersed with one-on-one, first-person monologues from the kids, narrating what’s happening. It’s a fast-paced narrative with drama and dialogue.

The Baking Life of Amelie Day by Vanessa Curtis (ages 8 – 12)
I enjoyed this book so much! The writing flows, the plot is engaging, the characters are fascinating — especially Amelie — and learning about living with Cystic Fibrosis is quite eye-opening. Amelie loves to bake (could you guess from the title?) and she’s made it to the semi-finals of a teen baking contest in New York City. Unfortunately, her health deteriorates (which happens when you have CF) and her mom won’t let Amelie compete. You won’t just love this story but also want to try the various recipes throughout the book –I love when authors do that.

Eggs over Evie by Alison Jackson (ages 8 – 12)
Evie is struggling with her parent’s divorce. She’s not feeling so great about her dad’s new family-to-be and her mom’s first date. She cooks and starts every chapter with a quote from a famous chef then ends each chapter with a recipe. You’ll enjoy this middle-grade chapter book Evie’s journey of self-discovery. 

Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai (ages 8 – 12)
Pie in the Sky is an insightful, funny, and poignant look at the struggles of immigrating to a new country (Australia) and the difficulties of learning English along with growing up and grieving the loss of a father. Jingwen’s observations and wit make him a likable main character and the illustrations capture the depth and flavors of his experiences. He likens learning English to becoming human. Because a big part of his life centers around baking cakes from growing up in a bakery and baking with his papa, after school with his brother, he bakes the cakes that his father wanted to include at his dream Pie in the Sky bakery.

Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood (ages 8 – 12)
This magical realism book series was a bedtime favorite read for us. In Rosemary’s family’s bakery, there’s a magical cookbook the kids aren’t supposed to use. But when the parents are away, the aunt arrives and gets cooking– using the forbidden enchanted recipes. But the kids will learn the hard way that Aunt Lily isn’t who she says she is nor does she have their best interests at heart. Action, adventure, magic, and cooking!

The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis (ages 8 – 12)
After a food mage turns Aventurine, a dragon, into a human using a magical chocolate drink, Aventurine develops a passion for chocolate. Unrecognized by her dragon clan, Aventurine travels to the nearest city to apprentice herself to a chocolate shop. She’s a brave, adventurous girl who makes her chocolate dreams come true with help from a new friend and kind employers. Will she be as brave when her dragon family attacks the town? Enjoyable from the first page, this fantasy book is a delight to read. (Best read with chocolate!)

Roll with It by Jamie Sumner (ages 8 – 12)
Narrated by Ellie, a girl who loves to bake, who has CP (cerebral palsy,) and who rolls through life in a wheelchair, she hates having an aid at school who’s supposed to help her with everything including going to the bathroom. When her mom moves them to Oklahoma to help care for her grandfather, she makes friends with other trailer park kids — the first friends ever. It’s a sweet story about taking risks, the importance of finding your tribe, and growing up.

Pie by Sarah Weeks (ages 8 – 12)
We loved this food story! Alice’s Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, dies and leaves her famous secret pie recipe to her grumpy cat, Lardo. Now Alice needs to figure out the recipe while she grieves her aunt. It’s a coming-of-age, warm-hearted story set in a close-knit community.

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer (ages 8 – 12)
In her new town of Culpepper, Foster bakes for a local coffee shop and as she does, her reading challenges are revealed. Foster works hard both in baking and in learning to read. The story is inspiring and heart-warming.

Neil Flambe and the Marco Polo Murders by Kevin Sylvester (ages 8 – 12)
Arrogant, yet endearing, 14-year old chef Neil Flambe is known for his keen powers of smell – especially by the police detectives who need Neil’s help with a series of mysterious murders of chefs in the area. The clues lead to something about a trip of Marco Polo and spices. An aromatic read.