Thinking about taking up a new hobby over the summer? Maybe some of these books on cooking, baking, and food will inspire you to try to make a new or beloved recipe. In What’s Eating Jackie Oh?, Park explores what happens when identity, expectations, and passion intersect. Jackie feels most comfortable when she is cooking, freeing her from the expectations of her Korean American parents and from the violence and hate towards the Asian American community. She usually just cooks in her grandparents’ deli, but one day, she is invited to be a teen contestant on her favorite cooking show, Burn Off. As she cooks her way through each grueling and yummy challenge, she also starts to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. This funny yet thoughtful novel serves up an engaging, modern coming-of-age story that anyone a fan of cooking shows will love.

Bite by Bite: American History through Feasts, Foods, and Side Dishes
Written by Marc Aronson and Paul Freedman, contributions by Frederick Douglass Opie, Amanda Palacios, Tatum Willis, and David Zheng
Illustrated by Toni D. Chambers
Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Available now

Cooking with the Sneetches
Written by Astrid Holm
Illustrated by Erik Doescher
Published by Random House Children’s Books
Available now

Isabel in Bloom
Written by Mae Respicio
Published by Wendy Lamb Books
Available now

The Mochi Makers
Written and illustrated by Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson
Published by Beach Lane Books
Available now

The Spice Box
Written by Meera Sriram
Illustrated by Sandhya Prabhat
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
Available now

What’s Eating Jackie Oh?
Written by Patricia Park
Published by Crown Books for Young Readers
Available now