Young student reading

Preschooler reading list – diverse books about food

Here are the books we picked up at our library for July. We were inspired by food this month because July often equals big food-based parties, and all our food and family traditions should be celebrated!

A young student reads in front of a window
A young student reads in front of a window
  • Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal (also about identity and family)
  • Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun: Having the Courage to Be Who You Are by Maria Dismondy and illustrated by Kim Shaw (a book about courage and self esteem)
  • Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao by Kat Zhang and illustrated by Charlene Chua (with themes like perseverance and dealing with failure, and also a great bao recipe!)
  • What’s Your Favorite Food? by Eric Carle of Very Hungry Caterpillar fame, but with illustrations and recipes from other children’s book authors including Aki, Isabelle Arsenault, Brigette Barrager, Matthew Cordell, Benji Davies, Karen Katz, Laurie Keller, Juliet Menendez, Greg Pizzoli, Misa Saburi, Felicita Sala, Dan Santat, and Shannon Wright (my favorite is the ramen)
  • Lailah’s Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story by Reem Faruqi and illustrated by Lea Lyon (I love the way Ramadan is described with joy, celebration and honor)
  • Maddi’s Fridge by Lois Brandt and illustrated by Vin Vogel (about food insecurity, also featuring a Hispanic family and potentially single mothers).

My favorite of this reading list is Maddi’s Fridge. With so many people going hungry right now as we face record unemployment and wild health care costs, I wanted a book to address that some people are hungry and we can help. I love this book particularly because the story comes first, and the bug loves it. We’ve read it every night since we borrowed it.

Kudos to the Culver City Julian Dixon Library for their thoughtfulness, friendliness, and genuine excitement to see us again. If you don’t have access to a local library, the Digital Public Library of America is a great resource!

Photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash.