Lunches, from brown-bag to at-home, are the focus of this newest offering from Company’s Coming. This cookbook aims to give aspiring chefs aged eight to 15 some luncheon ideas beyond the peanut-butter sandwich – taking the creative onus off the parent and giving children a way to take control of their midday meal.

Overall the book is quite impressive, with a modern look and approach. The format is inviting and user friendly, including a useful glossary of common cooking terms and a visual dictionary of cooking equipment and utensils. The writers provide a “Get Ready Get Set” equipment checklist for each recipe, and pepper the text with helpful hints on everything from cleaning your microwave to peeling a hard-boiled egg. In addition, each recipe features both metric and imperial measurements, plus a conversion table in the back of the book, and the introduction gives safety tips for young chefs and their parents. Thorough coverage of these basics makes it an ideal cookbook for kids just starting to learn their way in a kitchen.

The book’s range of recipes – from basic oatmeal cookies and toast to stir-fries and casseroles – makes it quite sophisticated; a 15-year-old (or older) will definitely find the recipes and information useful and adult enough. This culinary sophistication, however, may not be suited to eight-year-olds, who will definitely need assistance and would find many of the recipes daunting; the book is more realistically for kids age 10 and up.

While the menus include a variety of healthy, nutritious snacks, they are not particularly conscious of fat content (poutine will never be health food), and vegetarian children will find little in this cookbook to suit their diet. In general, though, this cookbook is an excellent introduction to easy, tasty meals.