Book Review: Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook

I was recently given a review copy of the TIME for Kids Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook:  Fun Recipes for Kids to Make! That's a long-winded title for a book that comes in at a relatively modest 160 pages, but it's a good starter cookbook for kids who are learning their way around the kitchen.
My nine-year-old daughter has recently taken on some cooking duties, and the recipes in this book are well designed for someone her age. The 80+ dishes here will generally appeal to kids, such as sloppy Joe sliders, quesadilla treats, and chocolate chip cookies. And there are more healthful but kid-friendly dishes like "broccoli trees" with Parmesan and "frushi" (fruit sushi). You'll even find a few ethnic dishes like Mexican posole soup and soba noodles with sweet & spicy shrimp.
Ingredient lists are short, typically no more than ten items long, with many coming in at six or fewer. And the instructions are likewise short, simple and easy to follow. A brief introduction covers some kitchen basics, like food safety and how to measure ingredients.
Each recipe is accompanied by a full-color photograph, and additional tips and food trivia are provided in the sidebars. One especially good feature of this book is its spiral binding, which allows the pages to lie flat for easy reference during food prep and cooking.
My daughter was excited to get this book, and it wasn't long before she prepared some very tasty chicken fingers (artfully plated in the photo) for our dinner. I'm looking forward to her taking on one of the pizza-related entries, such as Margherita panini, globe-trotter pizzas (made with English muffins), or pizza sticks (made with refrigerated pizza crust).
Yes, a lot of the recipes do call for prepared ingredients. But this is for kids, after all. The recipes, which run the gamut from breakfast to lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks, are complex enough to give kids the satisfaction of having genuinely prepared and cooked a dish (as opposed to just putting something in the microwave, or making a cold sandwich), without making them feel intimidated or overwhelmed. If you know a budding young chef, this book would make a fine gift, and a good stepping stone in his or her culinary education.
TIME for Kids Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook:  Fun Recipes for Kids to Make! (TIME for Kids Books 2013). 160 pp. $19.95 US, $21.95 Can.