Kid Konnection: Bon Appetit!
Bon Appétit!: The Delicious Life of Julia Child, by Jessie Hartland, is a beautiful non-fiction book for young readers, all about Julia Child. It’s the size and shape of a picture book, and it could be read to young children, but I think the book will appeal the most to young readers on up. It tells Julia’s story from childhood up until she hosted her famous cooking show.
The book is visually appealing with beautiful illustrations and hand lettered pages. It’s printed on heavy, glossy paper and the cover features the same picture as the dust jacket. Here’s what one of the interior pages looks like (click on it to make it larger):
What I loved the most about this book was the story and the message. I’m sure most adults are familiar with Julia Child and I think it’s wonderful to see a book that shares her story with young readers. The book portrays her as a girl who is full of life and far from perfect but succeeds through hard work. It shows that Julia was unconventional and lived her life to the fullest. She wasn’t the brightest – “high school French class is a disaster” – or the prettiest – she is described as gangly – but her attitude and zest for life took her far.
There are even a couple of recipes included in the book and I’m sure young readers will be itching to make crepes after they read it. I have a feeling Bon Appétit! will inspire more than one young reader to learn more about Julia Child and/or cooking.
For more children’s books reviews, go to Booking Mama’s feature, Kid Konnection. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, leave a comment as well as a link on her site.
Oh cool, a book with her in it
O wow. I love it. I would love to share this with my little one. Great review. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I had no idea.
I just loved this book. Great review.
I saw this on the blog “Jama’s Alphabet Soup” and have coveted it ever since! What a wonderful idea for a book for kids too!
I think I may have been twelve when I first tried one of Julia’s recipes. I think I may be buying it for me. Thanks for a greatt review.
This sounds so cute! Nice illustrations too.
I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of the Meryl Streep Book Club!
This looks and sounds fabulous, for kids and grown-ups!!
This is so neat! I’ll be honest, I had no idea who Julia Childs was until the Julie/Julia movie.
This sounds like a fun book for all of us!
What a cute book. I love the illustrations and that recipes are included.
The Julia Child book for young ones looks nice!
I’m getting this for my younger daughter – she loves biographies, and loves to cook –> a perfect combo!
I can’t wait to read this one. Just visited the Julia Child exhibit at the Smithsonian and I am totally interested in her again!
This one looks so very cool! I love the graphics and the way the story is told. That really does draw a kid into the book!
This is such a great way to introduce kids to Julia Childs, and though the adult world knows so much about her, this book really captures the essentials that I think kids would love to know about this famous chef. Great review today!
This sounds like a really great book! Especially for the recipes
Julia Child really is all the rage these days it seems.
Oh, I adore Julia — sounds like a great book to stash in my “future children” library box! (What — everyone doesn’t have one of those?!)
What an adorable book!
Looks like a wonderful book. I love the illustrations you have included in your review.