CHECK IT OUT:

This week we will celebrate the biggest cooking holiday of the year — Thanksgiving! Kids love to take part in holiday preparations, and the Newport Beach Public Library has lots of cookbooks available to help them participate in the cooking, build their culinary skills, or just have fun making meals and treats for family and friends. Children’s cookbooks typically include a section on kitchen safety and an explanation of basic cooking terminology and utensils, and are enhanced with lots of pictures.

The following is a main course of holiday cookbooks, with side dishes of cookbooks for various occasions, and for dessert, an assortment of specialized cookbooks.

Make a grand feast for the holiday with “Thanksgiving” by Ellyn Sanna. This book talks about Thanksgiving culture, history and traditions, and presents recipes for classic Thanksgiving fare such as roast turkey, apple stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and pumpkin pie — yum! Nice close-up photographs of the food complete this holiday cookbook.

To learn more about Thanksgiving, read “Celebrate Thanksgiving” by Deborah Heiligman. This book discusses the origins of the holiday and modern traditions and includes a recipe for cranberry and peach preserves.

Explore the food traditions of holidays commonly celebrated in America with “To Every Season: A Family Holiday Cookbook” by Jane Breskin Zalben. Make a quarterback quiche for New Year’s Day, patriotic cheesecake for Independence Day, and cranberry-orange relish for Thanksgiving, along with lots of other holiday recipes. The origins of each holiday in the book are explained, and the book is charmingly illustrated throughout.

“The Sleepover Cookbook” by Hallie Warshaw is chock full of recipes for kids to make for a sleepover or party. Its chapters follow a sequence much like a sleepover: Starter snacks, award-winner dinners, sacktime snacks, pajama breakfasts, brunch lunch and munch, and birthday surprises. The recipes say how much food they will make, the time it will take and how difficult it is. Recipes are spelled out with step-by-step instructions and helpful tips.

Celebrity chef Rachael Ray and Emeril Lagasse have many cookbooks, and some of them are just for kids. Rachael Ray has adapted her popular “30 Minute Meals” program into a children’s cookbook just bursting with recipes. “Cooking Rocks!: Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids” features a section on kitchen basics, and groups most of the recipes by the age of the chef. There’s a section for 4- to 6-year-olds (with a grown-up helper), 7 years and up, 12- to 16-year-olds, and other recipes for all ages.

“Emeril’s There’s a Chef in My World!: Recipes That Take You Places” features recipes from all over the planet. Emeril sorts his recipes by the time they would normally be eaten, and names his chapters like a travel guide: destination breakfast, globe-trotting soups and sandwiches, and a guide to sides, for a sampling.

Another cookbook featuring recipes with international flavor is “The Jumbo Vegetarian Cookbook” by Judi Gillies. If you’re a vegetarian, or just looking for a good meal without meat, try this cookbook. This book also has a really nice introductory chapter, which discusses different types of plants, nutrition, safety tips, cooking terminology, and pictures of assorted kitchen utensils.

And what would a grand feast be without dessert? For ideas on how to complete your feast, try “Yummy Little Cookbook” by Rebecca Gilpin. This confectionery cookbook has seasonal recipes as well as everyday treats. What a delicious finish!

CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public Library.