Picture Books About Food and Family Traditions
Food picture books that use kitchens, recipes, gardens, and meals to talk about family memory and belonging.
A world of picture books
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Picture books for curious children and the people who read with them. Find a new favorite to share.
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Begin with a little curiosity
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A shelf for every curiosity
All collections
Spanish–English for toddlers
Compare language, format, and the exact edition before you choose.
Family stories
Shared routines, family care, and stories that leave room for questions.
Preschool read-alouds
Explore stories about identity and belonging for ages 3–5.
Big feelings
Stories to start a conversation about emotions.
Outside discoveries
Books for children curious about the natural world.
Caldecott discoveries
A starting shelf of award-recognized picture books.
Discover a picture book
Explore titles from our catalog.
A wordless picture book follows a boy and his mother through an evening of housing insecurity, showing their daily routines and care for one another.
Land, sound, and shared experience shape a story that invites young readers to notice ecology, culture, and connection together.
A Sikh girl far from India finds ways to honor Vaisakhi through family, memory, and new community rituals.
An Aboriginal family navigates floodwater, uncertainty, and care for one another in a story shaped by climate pressure and resilience.
A lively portrait of potato expert Alberto Salas shows science, agriculture, and Peruvian food culture working together through curiosity and care.
Spanish And Bilingual
Books for families looking for Spanish-language and bilingual reading.
Benita and her dog venture into the night to help fix a problem and discover a world full of glowing, helpful creatures.
A boy and his father travel from California to the border to visit the mother who has been deported to Mexico.
Mother Goose rhymes get remixed with Spanish vocabulary, playful rhythm, and bright family-centered scenes.
Joyful resistance, movement, and self-expression animate this celebration of children who refuse to shrink themselves or their imaginations.
A bilingual retelling of Little Red Riding Hood turns the familiar tale into a playful rhyme filled with Spanish vocabulary and comic timing.
School And Feelings
Useful classroom and family reads about friendship, emotions, and school transitions.
A Hmong American girl learns about change, grief, and tenderness in a neighborhood shaped by gardens, seasons, and care.
A Black boy moves through layered feelings about his neighborhood and the violence that surrounds it.
A newcomer from Venezuela learns that snow and friendship can open a new kind of joy.
A seasonal, sensory picture book about a child's bond with an abuelo and the bittersweet memory of Cuba.
Humpty Dumpty learns how to live after a fall that leaves him frightened of heights and change.
BIPOC Picture Books
Stories centered on BIPOC children, families, and communities.
A twist on the classic Stone Soup, the residents of an apartment building come together for a hot pot night. Everybody contributes, bringing their diverse community together for a delicious meal. Recipe for hot pot included!
A clever and engaging book about temper tantrums, dealing with emotions and learning to express and understand your feelings.
Kevin Noble Maillard’s verse presents fry bread as food, time, art, history, place, nation, and community in a modern Native American family story illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal.
This 48-page hardcover was published by Roaring Brook Press on October 22, 2019. Suggested ages: 3–6. It received the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal and an American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor. Publisher edition details.
Thunder Boy Jr. is a charming and vibrant picture book by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Yuyi Morales. This engaging children's book tells the story of a young Native American boy named Thunder Boy Jr. who wants to forge his own identity rather than live in the shadow of his father's legacy.
Max doesn't feel like talking, but he lets his sticks do the talking for him as he taps out the rhythms of all that he sees and hears.
Books for young readers
Picture books for sharing with toddlers and preschoolers. Check the edition before buying.
Mrs. Mallard looks for a safe place in Boston to raise her eight ducklings. When the family must cross busy streets, police officers and neighbors help them reach the Public Garden.
This 72-page hardcover was published by Viking Books for Young Readers on January 1, 1941. Suggested ages: 3–7. Publisher edition details.
A playful bedtime fable inspired by the Mid-Autumn Festival and the phases of the moon.
After a fire, a girl, her mother, and her grandmother save coins for one beautiful chair of their own.
A day-in-the-life picture book centered on a nonspeaking autistic child and his autistic mother.
A migration story that links a family's separation and reunion with the movement of monarch butterflies.
Classics
Long-loved picture books that still deserve prominent shelf space.
A girl and her grandmother imagine themselves flying over New York City while speaking English and Spanish together.
A baby bird's repetitive search for his mother makes for one of the sturdiest early-childhood read-alouds around.
A spare, warm classic captures the sounds, motions, and pleasures of a baby's day with family.
A berry-picking trip turns into a gentle comic mix-up between a little girl, a little bear, and their mothers.
Frances insists on eating only bread and jam until monotony teaches her what variety can mean.
Reading guides
All reading guidesPicture Books for Hispanic Heritage Month That Work Year-Round
Hispanic Heritage Month picture books about family, language, migration, names, food, memory, and everyday joy.
Native American Picture Books by Native Authors and Illustrators
Native American and Indigenous picture books that foreground specificity, contemporary life, land, food, family, and cultural continuity.