Now that it’s fall, Southerners like me can finally turn our ovens back on without breaking into a profuse sweat. My family loves to make pies, cakes, and bread, so this is the perfect time to explore a baker’s dozen of diverse children’s books about baking!
Pick out a couple of fun picture books or chapter books about baking from the list, and make plans to get into the kitchen after you read.
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Diverse Picture Books About Baking
The Bread Pet: A Sourdough Story by Kate DePalma and Nelleke Verhoeff
When Uncle JB stops by Cora’s house on his way out West, he asks if she’ll take care of his bread pet. Cora agrees, having no idea how quickly the sourdough starter “pet” will take over their kitchen.
Soon she and her two moms have to do something to contain it, but Cora can’t bear to throw away any of the bread pet. When Mum remarks that many people would love to have the sourdough bread they’re overwhelmed with, a solution is born.
Kids can also find simple instructions for making their own sourdough bread in the back of the book. (Recommended for ages 4 – 9)
Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie: A Story about Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley
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This book about baking and cooking is sure to make you hungry! Long before the movement for local, seasonal food went mainstream, chef Edna Lewis was an expert. Lewis was a highly acclaimed chef at many different restaurants, as well as a prolific cookbook author. This book imagines her childhood in the 1920s in Freeport, Virginia.
We follow Edna and her family through the seasons as they delight in each new harvest. Edna is thrilled to pick, preserve, and bake everything from wild strawberries to honey to muscadine grapes. The book also includes several recipes made in the style of Lewis’ cooking. (Recommended for ages 4 to 9)
Related Post: Best children’s books about Black women leaders
Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family by Elizabeth Zunon
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A little girl gets ready for her birthday by helping her father make their favorite chocolate cake. It’s also a good way to pass the time while Mommy has gone to get another (mysterious) birthday treat.
The girl has never been to Ivory Coast, where her Grandpa Cacao farms and her father grew up. But Daddy loves telling her the story of how chocolate is made, starting with cacao farmers like Grandpa.
As Daddy tells her the story, she keeps wondering if she is like Grandpa Cacao. She hears that Grandpa must carry heavy loads through the bush on his, wide calloused feet. She knows then that Grandpa must be where “I get my wide-boat feet!”
Once the cake it baked, her special surprise is waiting at the door. It’s even better than her guesses of what it might have been. (#ownvoices, recommended for ages 4 – 8)
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Tea Cakes for Tosh by Kelly Starling Lyons and E.B. Lewis
This book is out of print, but check your local library for copies!
Tosh loves to hear his grandmother Honey tell stories as she bakes his favorite tea cakes. “Long, long ago,” she always begins, “before you and I were born, our people were enslaved.” She tells Tosh about his great-great-great-great-grandma Ida, who cooked in the plantation house.
Ida’s teacakes were the best around, but her own children were never supposed to taste them. Still, she’d hide a few extras in her pockets for them now and then, as a “promise of days to come.”
Tosh notices that his Grandma Honey is starting to forget things, until one day she isn’t even sure how to make the tea cakes. Tosh knows what he must do to keep the story alive and revive her memory of their ancestors. (#ownvoices, recommended for ages 6 – 10)
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Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal
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Fry Bread is one of those books about baking that will quickly transport children into the kitchen, no matter where you read it. Maillard’s poetic tribute to the treat celebrates its shape, sound, color, and flavor.
The expressive illustrations also capture how fry bread is much more than food for many Native Americans. It represents time spent together at dinners and powwow celebrations. It is history because it was a recipe created out of necessity when tribes’ land was stolen and they had to create new recipes from ingredients they didn’t know.
The main text of the book is simple enough for young kids, but I recommend reading at least some of the educational notes with older children to give more context. Maillard also includes his personal recipe for fry bread. (#ownvoices, recommended for ages 3 – 8)
Related Post: Twenty #ownvoices children’s books about Native Americans and First Nations peoples
Pancakes to Parathas: Breakfast Around the World by Alice B. McGinty and Tomoko Suzuki
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This book reminds us that breakfast and baking often go hand in hand. Playful rhyming text takes children on a global journey to experience breakfast on each continent. There are also more detailed notes that explain more about what breakfast might consist of in countries including China, Nigeria, and the Netherlands.
American children who are more used to sweet breakfast foods might be surprised how many global breakfasts are savory. In India, paratha (a fried flatbread) is dipped in spicy sauces. In Israel, salad might be on the menu, along with pita or challah bread. (Recommended for ages 4 – 10)
Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Dee Romito and Laura Freeman
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I love this book for so many reasons! It’s a book about baking for a purpose. I often talk about how we need to teach kids about the ordinary people who sustained movements for justice, not just the prominent leaders.
Pies from Nowhere does just that, telling the story of how Georgia Gilmore and her “Club from Nowhere” secretly raised funds for the Montgomery Bus Boycott by baking and cooking.
Gilmore knew she would lose her job cooking at a segregated lunch counter if bosses knew she has helping fund the boycott through her bake sales. So she kept the identities of the bakers and buyers secret.
The proceeds purchased gas for the carpool system that allowed the bus boycott to continue, and even station wagons for the carpools! (Recommended for ages 6 – 10)
Related Post: More than Martin: 15 children’s books about the civil rights movement
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Plus, discover which "classic" books I don't recommend because of racist content.
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Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco
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As a child, Patricia’s Babushka knew just what to do to help her overcome her fear of thunder.
First, she teaches Patricia to count the seconds between the flash of lightening and the sound of thunder. They need to know how far away the storm is, so that they can make a true “thunder cake” before the storm comes.
Each step of the baking process is truly from scratch on Babushka’s farm. As they gather the eggs and go to the dry shed to get supplies, Patricia must be brave. As with all of Polacco’s books, this story makes me feel warm inside and out! (#ownvoices, recommended for ages 4 – 8)
Bonus picture book about baking: The Tiny Baker by Hayley Barrett and Alison Jay
Since there are no human characters in this book, I can’t call it a diverse book. But it’s too cute to not include as a bonus to this list of books about baking.
A bumblebee baker’s shop delights all in her town with its lemon tarts and lacy florentine cookies. But when her crew of ladybug pastry chefs unexpectedly fly away, an explosive kitchen disaster results.
The tiny baker is in despair, until her customers reveal a lesson in friendship. (Recommended for ages 3 – 7)
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Diverse Chapter Books about Baking
Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen by Debbi Michiko Florence
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Jasmine Toguchi has a problem that younger siblings everywhere can identify with: she never gets to be the first to do anything! Just once, she’d like to do something that her older sister Sophie hasn’t already done.
Soon, Jasmine’s entire family will be arriving at her house, including her Obaachan who’s coming all the way from Japan, for the New Year celebration. Sophie is old enough to help the women of the family roll the special mochi dessert. But Jasmine can’t join in until she’s 10 years old, and that’s 2 years from now.
Suddenly, Jasmine realizes that she could do something that her sister has never done: help the men of the family pound the rice for the mochi. But can she break out of gender stereotypes and convince her father that’s she’s old enough and strong enough to join them? (#ownvoices, recommended for ages 7 – 10)
Related Post: 8 diverse chapter book series for early readers
Salsa Stories by Lulu Delacre
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When young Carmen Teresa receives a blank book as a gift from Doña Josefa, she isn’t sure what she’ll do with it. Her family suggests she fills it with stories, and they’re eager to offer up their own. The grownups tell stories from their childhoods in Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Puerto Rico.
But Carmen Teresa loves to cook, so she notices a pattern exists in the stories. They all include a special food that she wants to learn how to make, and that’s how she will use her new book.
Although my family originally checked this book out from the library, I think we’ll be buying a copy so that we can enjoy the recipes at the end! There are a great variety of recipes, with entrees, desserts, and drinks. (#ownvoices, recommended for ages 8 – 12)
Grab my printable list of top diverse books for every age, from 2 to 12
Plus, discover which "classic" books I don't recommend because of racist content.
You'll also get my kids and justice themed resources in your inbox each Tuesday. Don't like it? No problem. You can unsubscribe in one click.
Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai
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This hybrid chapter book/graphic novel is a hilarious and moving account of 12 year old Jingwen’s adjustment to moving to Australia. Their mother keeps assuring Jingwen and his younger brother Yanghao that things will be alright, even though they can hardly understand what anyone is saying in English.
We gradually learn that the boys were supposed to move to Australia long before now, but their father died in a sudden accident. He’d planned to open a bakery called Pie in the Sky.
When Jingwen discovers the recipes his father planned to make for the bakery, the boys decide they’ll bake each elaborate recipe themselves. There’s just one problem – Mama said they can’t use the oven while she’s at work. (#ownvoices, recommended for ages 9 – 13)
Summer of a Thousand Pies by Margaret Dilloway
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After Cady Bennett’s father can no longer care for her because of his addiction, she ends up in foster care. So it’s quite a surprise when caseworkers discover an aunt she didn’t know she had.
Soon Cady’s whisked off to a new town, living in her mother’s old room. Her Aunt Shell operates a pie shop, and Cady sets a goal of baking 1,000 pies during the summer.
When she discovers that the pie shop is struggling financially, Cady knows that she and her friends must spring into action to save the place. But can they do it, no matter how great a baker Cady is? (Recommended for ages 9 – 13)
Related Post: 10 Children’s Books about Homelessness and Housing
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The Girl with the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis
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Because of her storytelling skills and ability to spin, Silke has managed to move from being a homeless orphan to working in the acclaimed Chocolate Heart shop.
Still, it’s not easy for Silke to keep out of trouble. She’s prone to boasting, and her best friend Aventurine is a dragon who’s turned into a girl. After Silke tells a lie about working for the crown princess in order to protect Aventurine from danger, the princess’ guards track her down.
In turns out, she’s not in trouble. The princess wants her to spy on a group from the magical kingdom of Elfenwald, where Silke’s parents disappeared six years ago. (Recommended for ages 10 – 14)
Related Post: 13 Diverse Children’s Books about Dragons
What are your favorite children’s books about baking? Share in the comments!