Cooking with Max:

Joanna Lefebvre

45 fun and Kind of Messy recipes Kids Can Make
By Max Nania ($14.95)
Little Five Star Publications, Inc., 2007

Crunchy Bugs & Cheese anyone? How about Pirate Pasta?

It's hard not to admire the pluck involved in an 8-year old boy publishing a book. (Let alone a vegetarian-friendly cookbook.) But Max Nania, author of Cooking with Max: 45 Fun and Kind of Messy Recipes Kids Can Make, demonstrates plenty of pluck in his newly released kid-focused cookbook.

Assembled with help from Mom, Sienna Nania, Max's book is part family scrapbook, part kid cookbook. The recipes are simple and easy—in most cases they only require a bit of adult supervision.

From learning shapes and colors for younger readers, to fun lessons in literature and geography for older children, Max's mom offers helpful tips for turning the kitchen into a classroom. An especially nice touch: Each recipe includes suggested reading, a children's book, loosely tied to the theme of the recipe.

Given the intended audience, there is a necessary emphasis on ease.

That said, Max is a cute kid with a good idea. One that would translate well to any theme meal, or school foodservice kids-cooking class.