Alice’s Food A-Z (Alice Zaslavsky, illus by Kat Chadwick, Walker Books)

Too often children’s cookbooks are just bad collections of cheap, cheesy content and recipes for happy-face pizzas, which makes finding a good cookbook for primary school kids or your own ‘inner child’ very difficult—until now! Alice Zaslavsky is a Melbourne-based primary school teacher who made it through to the finals of ‘MasterChef’ series five (she’s the one with the ‘big glasses’). Alice’s Food A-Z is an engaging, personal and healthy introduction to food that will intrigue kids, adults—even picky eaters! Zaslavsky’s zany sense of humour percolates throughout (think Andy Griffiths meets Heston Blumenthal) and her 40 recipes for snacks and easy dishes, scattered over 26 A-Z foodie chapters, illustrate good cooking techniques without being preachy. Liberally seasoned with interesting and engaging ‘facts’, ‘tips’ and ‘whys guys’ sections, this is a great introduction to food, food science, cooking and health for young readers. The ‘What to look for’ sections are also perfect primers to make better food shoppers. This book is ideal for the home, but will also suit lesson plans and school activities.

Tim White is co-owner at Books for Cooks and father to two young cooks