Here it is, my first solo picture book: Au 10, Rue des Jardins, published by Editions Cambourakis earlier this year.
This project was born when I contacted this wonderful french publisher at the Bologna book fair in 2017. I'd been working on a lot of picture book biographies in the US and was curious to work on something for a completely different market, and with complete freedom. I asked him if he was interested in doing a book together. He was, and suggested I make my own book of recipes.
It has been the most difficult, laborious and ambitious project I've worked on so far. I didn't want to make a simple recipe book. I'm not a chef, barely a home cook. But I do love food, and I do love picture books about food. So I came up with the idea (perhaps not very original, but relevant, to me anyway), about exploring the kitchens of various people from different backgrounds, who happen to live in the same building, and who come together to celebrate at the end.
This is precisely what food and eating means to me, the act of feeding others, of being fed, of sharing what made us from the places that made us. the recipes are mostly old classics, not my own, that I adapted slightly. these are the things I cook for my family, or that are simple and comforting to make and eat with children.
But beware, this is not a 'kid's food' book. I believe in kids eating what we eat, and learning about food in the same way they learn about the world, with curiosity and wonder.
The book is available in online bookstores, in French, and an English and Italian coedition will make its way out in the coming months.
This project was born when I contacted this wonderful french publisher at the Bologna book fair in 2017. I'd been working on a lot of picture book biographies in the US and was curious to work on something for a completely different market, and with complete freedom. I asked him if he was interested in doing a book together. He was, and suggested I make my own book of recipes.
It has been the most difficult, laborious and ambitious project I've worked on so far. I didn't want to make a simple recipe book. I'm not a chef, barely a home cook. But I do love food, and I do love picture books about food. So I came up with the idea (perhaps not very original, but relevant, to me anyway), about exploring the kitchens of various people from different backgrounds, who happen to live in the same building, and who come together to celebrate at the end.
This is precisely what food and eating means to me, the act of feeding others, of being fed, of sharing what made us from the places that made us. the recipes are mostly old classics, not my own, that I adapted slightly. these are the things I cook for my family, or that are simple and comforting to make and eat with children.
But beware, this is not a 'kid's food' book. I believe in kids eating what we eat, and learning about food in the same way they learn about the world, with curiosity and wonder.
The book is available in online bookstores, in French, and an English and Italian coedition will make its way out in the coming months.
