Cool East Coast Cooking: Easy and Fun Regional Recipes

Gr 3–6—All the titles begin with an introduction to the featured region, a spread addressing health and safety, another that defines and illustrates "cool cooking terms" and tools, and a section of necessary ingredients. The instructions for the eight recipes that follow are nicely arranged, but some of the recipe names (e.g., "Three Sisters Soup" in East Coast) are left unexplained. One might expect to find recipes for foods mentioned in the introductions ("Delaware has a soft spot for peach pie. It's their state dessert"), but that is not always the case. It is also puzzling as to why "Apple Crisp Delight" is included in Midwestern when apples are not mentioned as a special crop for any of those states. These are attractive, well-designed books with bright, clear photographs-but whether they are truly useful in reflecting the cuisine of an area is questionable.