Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Tacos!: An Interactive Recipe Book
Novelty nonfiction board book
For ages 4 to 6
Phaidon Press, 2017 ISBN: 978-0714875057
Almost everyone enjoys eating tacos. There are so many versions that you can create, and they are not complicated to make either. With just a few ingredients and some basic skills you can cook tacos that will titillate the palate and fill hungry tummies.
In this interactive book children will learn how to make tacos. They can experience the process through the book first and then, with the help of a grownup, make delicious tacos of their own in their family kitchen.
The author begins by showing us what ingredients and what tools we are going to need to make our tacos. The information is presented to us as annotated illustrations, which makes it very easy for children to understand what the recipe requires.
Next we begin the cooking process. We have to dice, season, and marinate the chicken, and then cook it in a skillet. Sometimes it is not easy to tell if chicken is cooked, but in this instance the author tells us how long the cooking process will take and she shows us, using an interactive feature, what the color the cooked chicken will become.
While the chicken is cooking we can get busy preparing the veggies. Scallions, radishes, cabbage, and cilantro all need to be chopped. When we pull a tab on the veggies page we see what the veggies should look like when they are ready.
Next we make the guacamole from scratch, and we are even shown how to prepare the avocado.
Step by step the author takes us through the cooking process. We sauté, mix, shuck corn, and then assemble all our toppings. Throughout the book, interactive features bring the process to life, and little notes give us tips and tricks to help us along the way.
This book would make an excellent gift for a budding young chef who is eager to learn how to cook.
