Tomatoes for Neela
Beautifully illustrated tale shows love of food and family.
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Tomatoes for Neela is a mouth-watering picture book by Padma Lakshmi, creator and host of Hulu's Taste the Nation and host and executive producer of the Emmy-winning Bravo series Top Chef. It's full of affection for family traditions and flavor, with gorgeous images on every page. The illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal are warm and inviting, and when combined with luscious descriptions of smells and textures, can make for some very hungry readers. The gentle pace of the story, sharing family history along with the history of tomatoes in cultures around the world, has a nice rhythm for reading aloud, and there's a good message about eating foods that are in season. The recipes for tomato sauce and tomato chutney have lots of detail and are simple enough for kids to follow. The end of the book has information about the lives of farmworkers, facts about tomatoes, and a note from author Lakshmi.
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What's the Story?
A special book of family recipes sits on the kitchen counter in TOMATOES FOR NEELA, and Neela's amma (mother) writes down all the ingredients for her favorite dishes. Tomato season is Neela's favorite time at the market, when they choose sun-ripened tomatoes to make jars and jars of the family's beloved sauce to eat when the seasons change.
Is It Any Good?
By the time readers get to the recipes late in this mouthwatering story, the gorgeous illustrations and flavor descriptions make it practically impossible not to want a tomato, or a jar of sauce. In Tomatoes for Neela, readers see how food forms a special bond between generations, and they can think about how that works in their own families, what they love to cook for each other. The history in the book gives context and surprising depth, and two things about how tomatoes arrive at our table stand out: the mention of the difficult work farm laborers do to plant and harvest food, and the idea of eating food when it's in season.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what foods their family cherishes like the tomatoes in Tomatoes for Neela. Does your family have any recipes that have been handed down for generations?
What cooking smell immediately reminds you of a special place?
What other books about food have you read?
Book Details
- Author: Padma Lakshmi
- Illustrator: Juana Martinez-Neal
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Cooking and Baking, Great Girl Role Models, History
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
- Publication date: August 31, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 3 - 7
- Number of pages: 40
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: September 8, 2021
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