Staff Picks

This simple story with bright illustrations by Togolese-French artist, Magali Attiogbé, captivates with the beauty of animals, nature, and repetition.
 

Publisher's description:
When a little pea escapes a girl who is shelling peas, it rolls off the kitchen table, onto the floor, and an adventure begins. The runaway pea rolls passed several hungry animals. It manages to evade a mouse, a cat, a rabbit, a hen, a pig, and a wolf, finally resting in the perfect place. The girl will find it again after some time has passed for a surprise conclusion.

Find Roll, Roll, Little Pea in our online catalog

This book was a breeze to read thanks to an approachable invitation into the culinary world, some quirky, magical realism, and a woman who challenges herself to believe there is more to life. There is no way you will guess the ending of this bizarre and truly gripping tale of bread, robots, and joy.

 

Publisher’s description

Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers close up shop, and fast. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her―feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it. Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she’s providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria. The company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer’s market, and a whole new world opens up. When Lois comes before the jury that decides who sells what at Bay Area markets, she encounters a close-knit club with no appetite for new members. But then, an alternative emerges: a secret market that aims to fuse food and technology. But who are these people, exactly?"

 

I discovered this book on our shelves and was happy to find an author similar to my favorite author, Sarah Addison Allen. It is heartwarming and hopeful and is about making new choices on life's journey, with a sprinkle of magic , of course!

 

Publisher's description:

An uplifting novel about a heartbroken young pie maker who is granted a magical second chance to live the life she didn't choose. . . . from the bestselling author of The Enlightenment of Bees. Lolly Blanchard's life only seems to give her lemons. Ten years ago, after her mother's tragic death, she broke up with her first love and abandoned her dream of opening a restaurant in order to keep her family's struggling Seattle diner afloat and care for her younger sister and grieving father. Now, a decade later, she dutifully whips up the diner's famous lemon meringue pies each morning while still pining for all she's lost. As Lolly's thirty-third birthday approaches, her quirky great-aunt gives her a mysterious gift-three lemon drops, each of which allows her to live a single day in a life that might have been hers. What if her mom hadn't passed away? What if she had opened her own restaurant in England? What if she hadn't broken up with the only man she's ever loved? Surprising and empowering, each experience helps Lolly let go of her regrets and realize the key to transforming her life lies not in redoing her past but in having the courage to embrace her present.

 

Picking up this book, it is so easy to hear Stanley Tucci narrate in your head as you read along. The consummate character actor details his life with the glorious food that he loved, including recipes for some of the more important dishes--some of which you can make, and some...not so much.

 

Publisher description:

From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.Stanley Tucci grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the kitchen table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the savory recipes and into the compelling stories behind them.​Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about his growing up in Westchester, New York; preparing for and shooting the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia; falling in love over dinner; and teaming up with his wife to create meals for a multitude of children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burned dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.

Written with Stanley's signature wry humor, Taste is for fans of Bill Buford, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Ruth Reichl--and anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal.

 

I loved reading this novel because of the plot and setting. Salt and Sugar, by Rebecca Carvalho, is a novel about two characters who start out as enemies and end as best friends: Lari Ramires from the Salt Bakery and Pedro Molinas from the Sugar Bakery. Both character’s families have been in a feud for years because of the constant competitions between both bakeries. Lari and Pedro have never been close before, but when they start attending the same high school something shifts in their attitudes toward one another. Both teenagers are determined to keep their bakeries safe against a big supermarket chain that moved into their town and is forcing family-owned, small businesses to close. Read this novel to find out what happens when two enemies work together with trust and determination!

- Anonymous eleventh-grade teen volunteer

 

Publisher's description:

Trust neither thin-bottomed frying pans nor Molinas. Lari Ramires has always known this to be true. In Olinda, Brazil, her family's bakery, Salt, has been at war with the Molinas' bakery across the street, Sugar, for generations. But Lari's world turns upside down when her beloved grandmother passes away. On top of that, a big supermarket chain has moved to town, forcing many of the small businesses to close. Determined to protect her home, Lari does the unthinkable--she works together with Pedro Molina to save both of their bakeries. Lari realizes she might not know Pedro as well as she thought--and she maybe even likes what she learns--but the question remains: Can a Ramires and a Molina truly trust one another?

 

I don't like to cook, I just like to eat. If ever there was a book to get me to revisit my (lack of) culinary skills, however, this would be it. Lovingly put together in a way only a true fan could, this book highlights approachable and tasty recipes that shockingly go beyond Lembas bread and salads.

 

Publisher's Description:

From Elrond's famous feasts at Rivendell to Galadriel's gift of Lembas Bread to the Fellowship of the Ring, the foods made by Tolkien's Elves are mysterious, ethereal, and elegant. The Elven Cookbook provides readers with an experience from the world of Tolkien like no other, featuring more than 80 delicious recipes inspired by the mythical race. With recipes such as Silmaril Breakfast Friands, Lúthien's Asparagus Tart, and Rivendell Roast Lamb, this beautiful cookbook captures all the majesty and otherworldliness of the Elves' way of life, and delivers a treat for your taste buds and imagination alike.

 

I love books with recipes. I always want to make them, and this book has such lovely bold colors that just make me want to jump into the kitchen!

 

Publisher's description:

Purple, yellow, orange, and red. Just the right mix of colored vegetables make a delicious soup in this tasty introduction to colors, counting, and veggies.
All you need is a pot, a spoon, an adult helper, and vegetables of many colors to make a very special soup--Every Color Soup! Learn colors and vegetable names in this bright and colorful picture book with minimal text perfect for the beginning reader. Jorey Hurley's bright, graphic art and simple text make this vibrant book a perfect read-aloud for budding cooks and their families. This lively picture book also comes with a recipe!

 

The main protagonist, Elizabeth Zott, is a scientist in the late 1950s and early 60s at a time when all the other women at the research lab are secretaries. Zott lives without fear and without constraints for the social norms of this period. Part love story, part social commentary - I highly recommend "Lessons in Chemistry". I could not put this book down and read it in two sittings.

 

Publisher's description: 

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with--of all things--her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.
Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.