How Cooking Works

by D.K. Publishing

Young cooks can gain kitchen confidence with easy-to-follow recipes that are family favorites all over the world. Learn the techniques and understand the science behind cooking. Transform basic ingredients into tasty breakfasts, delicious dinners, mouth-watering desserts, and super snacks!

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Dorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.

Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Shanshad Whelan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going to drop this back to three stars after further perusal. There's a real issue for me with some of the fonts used in this book, especially the recipe headings, which are in outlined form. The outline is not bolded and almost impossible to see without really focusing. I'm of the opinion that fonts, especially header fonts, should pop and be clearly visible when scanning the page. But even the other fonts are an issue. The recipe text is too small IMO, and in a non traditional font that doesn't show up as well unless bolded.

I'm also unimpressed with the "how" portion of the text. Most of the little tidbits of knowledge added in don't really relate much to cooking. Like "why are smoothies sweet?" Or "why do I shake salad dressing?" Other questions don't really get explained at all, like "Why does mozzarella cheese melt easily?" All the little paragraph says on this is that "not all cheeses melt that well." and then names some cheeses that don't melt well. It never goes into why this is so. While some of the recipes are perfectly yummy looking (and I'd like to try my hand at those Rice Balls) this book's main gimmick of being a cookbook about how cooking works falls short of it's goal. It tells kids how to cook, but not really how that cooking works. Couple that with the frenetic fonts and there are a lot of better cookbooks out there for kids, I'm sad to say. Still can be a fun page through book, but I don't find it to be a winner.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to follow information and instructions on cooking a variety of items.
The author describes cooking and shows various items needed to cook.
Simple to follow recipes all follow the same pattern for young cooks.

[Ashley Bankson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonfiction/Fiction Twin Text #4

I chose the book How Cooking Works because it is such a fun book that all kids can enjoy. It has fun recipes! It also explains the directions and utensils very well so the readers can understand it and have fun.

The fiction I thought to pair it with is called Phineas L. MacGuire...Gets Cooking! This is a book about a boy who is a genius scientist but it is his job to cook dinner. So he uses his mad skills to make dinner. It is a comical book that is fun to read. It goes perfectly with my nonfiction book because every child wants to cook something or has to make dinner and doesn't know or how to cook. So this nonfiction book is a great twin pair.

The book is for intermediate grades and the genre is informational

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has probably been my favorite science picture book that I have read thus far. I think that cooking can teach so much! I think that it is really beneficial to teach children at a young age to not only love food and being creative but also teach them about math, hard work and the importance of family time through food. While reading this book I thought to myself how a child would probably think that this book was really fun. There was a young child on every single page making the recipe and having fun with it. There was also the fact that there were a lot of recipes that I am sure most kids enjoy and have seen before such as pizza and chicken. Then finally there were recipes that would appear new to a child. I could picture a child trying to make a new recipe with a parent and then actually being willing to try it because he or she spent time and effort on it. The recipes were also teaching how healthy food is not just lettuce but that it can be in a variety of ways which I really enjoyed. I thought that this book is a great teaching tool and also a fun book for kids!

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever just sat down and read. The language is simplified for children, but the recipes are something I would use now as an adult. And although it is a children's cookbook, the recipes are surprisingly healthy and I learned things I wish I had known when I was younger. Each section teaches you the basic of the subject and then you can build upon that foundation. Super cool way to teach not only baking but science as well.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a person who has a passion with cooking, I love books that introduce that love to children. On that note, I loved the explanations of cooking science, but I felt the recipes were not too children friendly. There were also cooking methods that, even supervised, I wouldn't allow my children to use.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to introduce kids into the kitchen! It is encouraging and teaches some safety techniques. I loved the recipe's, but especially the little pictures that showed kids how to flip crepes! This will be fun for any aspiring chef in the kitchen, and simple for mom to supervise!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun little recipes with photos of children doing them themselves. Inspirational! or at least a great resource to share with children.

[Allison W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes pictures and callouts for help

[Amber Escamilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is cool because not only are there recipes, it explains why certain things happen or why you do certain things when cooking. It does that for every recipe. So cute and informative!