Lidia Bastianich is a celebrated Italian-American chef, cookbook author, restaurant owner and grandmother of five.
It’s a recipe of roles that makes for a delightful little story in Nonna’s Birthday Surprise (Running Press Kids, $16.95), a picture book about Bastianich’s grandchildren planning a dinner for their great-grandmother, Nonna Mima (Bastianich’s mother).
The book, beautifully illustrated by Renee Graef, follows along as the children learn what kind of meal would most delight their Nonna — specifically, one that would remind her of growing, gathering and preparing her own meals from her farm in Italy.
“It was happy, alive and ever-changing,” Bastianich tells the grandchildren of the farm. “Each season brought its own special magic of colors, smells and flavors.”
The story describes the local markets and the seasonal bounties that made up all of her family’s meals. The grandchildren in the story gather vegetables, sniff fresh herbs, sample cheeses.
Nonna’s Birthday Surprise also contains kid-friendly recipes: panna cotta with berries, sausage and bread frittata, potato gnocchi with butter sage sauce, roasted sweet potatoes with thyme, and chocolate bread parfait among them.
— Heidi Stevens
Chicago Tribune
