New stuff!

I've been reading some advanced readers copies on Netgalley.  If you haven't heard of Netgalley, it's a website where you can sign up for FREE and read advanced readers copies of books.  I think the hope is that people like us will help generate buzz for the books.  Win-win!  Awesome!  Anyway, this morning I read a really awesome one called Daisy to the Rescue by Jeff Campbell.  It should be out this week and it's wonderful.  It starts off explaining about the mythology of animal rescue and goes into some detail of verifying sources (which would make for a great lesson about fantasy vs. reality). The stories are sorted into groups and before each story there is a sort of a fact sheet with a lovely pen and ink drawing of the animal.  The stories are quite short and the author's voice is strong, which I think the kids will really connect to.  I think this is one that's really going to be worth looking for.

I also read Tucci's Table by Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt.  I think Stanley Tucci is an amazing actor so I was completely intrigued by the cookbook.  It has gorgeous pictures of food as well as him and his family in the kitchen.  The recipes are family friendly, healthy kinds of food with easy to follow directions.  The recipes are not particularly innovative (but if you're cooking for kids I think mostly you want food they will eat, not some jaw dropping culinary experience) but rather tried and true classic kind of food, the kind of food you want to feed your family.  I liked this one a lot and the biggest feeling I was left with was I was wondering if Stanley Tucci would like to come for dinner at my house!

The last one I looked at is also a cookbook (I'm married to a chef... it's what we do!).  It's called Bring your lunch by Califia Suntree but I think that title too limiting.  Her recipes are so interesting, I think you could use them for practically any meal.  However, the premise of the book is that you should have something delicious and healthy for lunch.  The author carefully describes the ingredients you might want to have on hand as well as equipment (like having the right containers to take your lunch in-that's a lesson I hadn't had to learn on my own!).  The art work is adorable.  The recipes are organized by themes... sandwiches, salads, using leftovers.  It's a treasure trove of ideas for lunch!  It also has tons of helpful hints (like what kind of canned tuna you might want to buy) as well as suggestions for substitutions and adaptations of recipes.  I really liked this one a lot,  I think it will be a useful addition to many kitchens and I can't wait to try out some of the recipes.