Great for beginning level readers and others, these books explore traditions of family life and culture around the joy of food.

Everybody Cooks Rice  by Norah Dooley, illus. by Peter J. Thornton. Carolrhoda Books, 1991, 2006. A tour through an American neighborhood finds families from many nationalities cooking their country’s rice recipes.  Vietnam, Puerto Rico, Barbados, India, China, Haiti, and Italy are represented. Picture book.

Everybody Bakes Bread  by Norah Dooley, illus. by Peter J. Thornton. Carolrhoda Books, 1995. A tour through a multiethnic neighborhood finds families making bread in a variety of traditions. Lebanon, El Salvador, Italy, Barbados, and South Carolina are represented.  Picture book.

Family Pictures by Carmon Lomas Garza, Children’s Book Press, 1995. Bilingual Spanish-English journey through the daily life and celebrations in a Mexican American community.

Let’s Eat by Ana Zamorano, illus. by Julie Vivas, Scholastic, 1999. The lives and wonderful meals of a large Spanish family about to have a new baby. Picture book.

Pumpkins by Ken Robbins, Square Fish, 2007. Naturalistic color photos and spare text tell the life cycle of pumpkins and New England traditions around them. Nonfiction picture book.

It Takes a Village by Jane Cowen-Fletcher, Scholastic, 1994. Depicts social life and market day for a family in a Benin village. Picture book.
The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons, Holiday House, 2002. Pictures and simple text about growing vegetables and vegetable markets.  Nonfiction picture book.

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant, illus. by  Diane Goode, Puffin, 1992.  Memories of growing up in Appalachia.  Picture book.

Freedom from conflict, freedom to pursue one’s dream, freedom to go to school, freedom to make choices. These books explore freedom in its many forms.

The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson, Clarion, 2009.  A family who experiences the war in Kosovo in the late 1990s comes to the U.S. to make a new home. Short novel.

Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say, Sandpiper, 1993.  A young man follows in his grandfather’s footsteps and leaves Japan to explore America. They both face the complexities of feeling loyalties to two countries.  Picture book.

Life is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman, Random House, 2000. A book written for adults, reading level gr. 4 and up.  Facilitator Jennifer Lee led discussions about this book with upper level ABE students and writes, “George Dawson, an African-American, was born in the south in 1898, lived there most of his life, and died in 2001 at the age of 103. In his 98th year, he attended ABE classes in Dallas, Texas, and learned to read. His life is fascinating reading as he travels across North America as far as British Columbia and Mexico, doing various jobs to survive, meeting different people and observing life. A map, historical and personal timelines, and structured small group discussions made this adult book very accessible.” Autobiography.

The Most Beautiful Place in the World by Ann Cameron, Yearling, 1993.  A Guatemalan grandmother and grandson make the boy’s dream to go to school come true. Cameron is a master of spare, emotionally true stories.  Small first chapter book.

Nasreen’s Secret School, a true story from Afghanistan by Jeanette Winter, Beach Lane Books, 2007.  Nasreen’s grandmother takes her to a secret school in a private home so she can continue her education while the Taliban are in power. Winter tells the story from Nasreen’s point of view in spare words and acrylic paintings. Picture book.

Revolution is Not a Dinner Party by Ying ChangCompestine, Henry Holt, 2007.
The title, taken from Mao’s Little Red Book captures a time of growing loss of freedoms to an educated Chinese family.  Compestine fictionalizes her own story of coming of age during China’s Cultural Revolution. The book is rich with images of food and cooking. Compestine now lives in California and also writes cook books including Cooking With an Asian Accent. Short novel.

These books offer close-ups on New England life today and in history.  Do the details of life affect the character of New Englanders?  Is there a New England character? What can newcomers tell us about New England?  A good series for beginning readers.

Here Comes Darrell by Leda Shubert, illus. by Mary Azarian, Houghton, 2005.
A handyman helps people in his community through harsh winter storms. The story follows the handyman and
his work through the New England seasons.  Picture book.

Hold the Anchovies: A Book About Pizza by Shelly Rotner, Orchard Books, 1995.
A photo essay and short text about ingredients and the making of pizza by an award winning Maine and Massachusetts photographer. Picture book.

One Green Apple by Eve Bunting, illus. by Ted Lewin, Clarion, 2006.
On a Muslim student’s second day of school in the U.S., she travels on a field trip with her class to an apple orchard. Ted Lewin’s illustrations show extraordinary realism.  Picture book.

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Peter & Connie Roop, illus. by Peter E. Hanson.  A page-turning story of courage told in brief chapters. It’s set on Matinicus Island, Maine, in the days when lighthouse keepers must manually keep the lamp in a lighthouse lit.   Early chapter book.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illus. by John Schoenherr, Philomel, 1987. A family follows the call of the owl through the woods on a winter night. Picture book.

Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall, illus. by Barbara Cooney, Penguin, 1980.  Hall’s poem with Cooney’s primitive paintings follow the New England seasons through the life of a mid-19th century farmer. Picture book.

A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry, Harcourt, 1992. A Nashua story about the reclaiming of the Nashua River.  Picture book.

G is for Granite by Marie Harris, illus. by Karen Busch Holman, Sleeping Bear Press, 2002. A journey through NH in poems and illustrations. Picture book.

“Picturing America,” created by the National Endowment for the Humanities, features great American photographs and art that capture the country’s “diverse people and places, its travails and triumphs.” 

You can see the photographs at picturingamerica@neh.gov.   We’ve selected books to pair with a “Picturing America” image.  Some are selected from the Picture America Bookshelf.  Readers will be able to explore the time in history through both story and image.   

The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin by James Cross Giblin, illus. by Michael Dooling, Scholastic. This illustrated biography is well researched with many historic photos to capture the accomplishments and impact of Franklin’s life on America’s history. Nonfiction, gr. 3 and up.

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies, illus. by Melissa Sweet, Houghton, 2004.  A story of the great student and painter of birds. 
Nonfiction picture book.

Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Russell Freedman, Scholastic, 2000. “Freedman takes a crucial moment in American history and imbues it with living grace and powerful tension.” Booklist.  Nonfiction, gr. 4 and up.

Harvesting Hope, the story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull, illus. by Yuyi Morales, Harcourt, 2003.  Chavez leads a revolt to bring the first labor reforms to migrant farm workers. Nonfiction picture book.

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport, illus. by Bryan Collier.  Biography of Martin Luther King illustrated with Collier’s water color and collage art.  Nonfiction picture book.

Meet Abraham Lincoln by Barbara Cary, Random House Landmark Books, 1965. A very fine telling of the life of Abraham Lincoln written in short chapters. First chapter book.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, Yearling, 1955.
The classic great adventure novel set during the American Revolution following the life of a young silversmith in Boston who comes of age as the war begins. Novel. 

On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck, Dial, 2007.   The very popular Peck writes a story about the homefront during World War II from the point of view of a boy whose brother has gone to war.  Short novel.

Rosa  by Nikki Giovanni, illus. by Bryan Collier, Square Fish, 2007.
Biography of Rosa Parks by the poet Nikki Giovanni.  Nonfiction picture book.

Is growing a garden a way of creating one’s identity, or for someone who has moved from home a way to  preserve  an identity?  These books explore passions for growing and gardens all over the world.

The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland, illus. by Tatsuro Kiuchi, Voyager, 1997. Through generations,  a family preserves a lotus seed to remember the traditions of their home, Vietnam. Picture book.

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, Penguin, 1985. Called by a reviewer, “an oasis of calm and beauty.” Subjects include flowers, wisdom, New England, and grandparents.  Picture book.

Once There Was a Tree by Natalia Romanova, illus. by Gennady Spirin, Puffin, 1983. Celebrates the life of a tree and how it supports animals, insects, and humans. Picture book.

Planting the Trees of Kenya: the Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola, Farrar, Straus, 2008.  A courageous woman works to protect Kenyan land from deforestation. Nonfiction picture book.

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, illus. by Judy Pedersen, Harper, 1997. A collection of stories of people from around the world who are now neighbors with a common love – growing things from the dirt.   “Thirteen voices tell one story of the flowering of a Cleveland vacant lot into a neighborhood garden.”Short novel made up of small stories.

Beautiful Warrior by Emily Arnold McCully, Arthur Lelvine, 1998. Enter seventeenth century China and the legend of Wu Mei who builds her inner strength- her qi -with the help of her kung fu master.  Picture book.

Home Run by Robert Burleigh, illus. by Mike Wimmer, Harcourt, 1988. An illustrated biography of Babe Ruth with spare text and full page pictures painted in oil on canvas.  Nonfiction picture book.

Teammates by Peter Golenbock, illus. by Paul Bacon, Sandpiper, 1992. Biography of Jackie Robinson with photos and illustrations. “Golenbock has taken a single moment of baseball history, set it in its social context, and created a simple and moving tribute to courage and brotherhood.”  Nonfiction picture book.

Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull,  illus. by David Diaz.  Harcourt, 1996. An illustrated biography of Wilma Rudolph who overcame polio as a child to become the first woman to win three gold medals in track in an Olympics game. Nonfiction picture book.

This series is for advanced readers.

Good Poems, selected and introduced by Garrison Keillor, Penguin, 2002. Sophisticated and accessible poems are grouped in topics such as Sons & Daughters, Work, Death, Music, Beasts, Snow, and even the topic of Yellow.