Cooking the Norwegian way

Gr 5-8-Three attractive titles in an extensively revised series. In each volume, the front matter comprises close to half the book. Geography, history, holidays and festivals, typical ingredients, and sample menus are all covered. Safety tips are also included (with no mention of adult supervision), as are tips for healthful cooking. Each book presents about 20 recipes, mostly focusing on lunch, dinner, and holiday foods. A number of recipes are vegetarian, and several seem to be low in fat (although nutrition information is not included). Skills needed cover a fairly large range, from easy to difficult, such as working with phyllo dough (Greek) or making yeast bread (Norwegian). The narrative pieces are smoothly written and offer some interesting tidbits. The authors are either natives or have some family connection to the country under discussion. The pages are a warm buff color, and the design allows plenty of space on the page for the text and the nicely reproduced color photos. All in all, these are good resources for reports and for older kids who want to add something new to their cooking for family or friends.-Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.