A deliciously engaging guide for kids with big appetites and bigger culinary dreams.
Soules delivers another energetic, eye-opening journey into an extraordinary career in her lively book. Aimed at readers ages 10–14, this illustrated career guide moves past cooking-show glamour to examine the knowledge, physical stamina, precision, and temperament required to turn an interest in food into a profession.
Soules is particularly effective at showing how much happens beyond the stove. Executive chefs, sous chefs, line cooks, pastry chefs, prep cooks, dishwashers, servers, farmers, and suppliers form an interconnected system, while a detailed day-in-the-life sequence takes readers from an early farmers’ market visit through preparation, dinner service, cleanup, and late-night reflection. The discussion of culinary science is equally accessible, explaining how heat changes ingredients and how repeated tasting teaches cooks to recognize shifts in seasoning, acidity, texture, and concentration.
The book is strongest when addressing failure. Burned food, ruined sauces, returned dishes, criticism, fatigue, and long hours are presented as routine parts of developing professional skill rather than dramatic setbacks. Soules also makes room for less obvious necessities, including sensory intelligence, business sense, cultural curiosity, memory, and an emotional connection to food. Profiles of Julia Child, Edna Lewis, and René Redzepi add useful historical perspective. Colorful illustrations, a glossary, practical activities, and further resources support independent exploration, though readers seeking detailed information about culinary-school costs, salaries, or specific training routes will need supplementary sources. Informative, specific, and respectful of its young audience, this is a useful addition to public and school library career collections.
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Pub date April 19, 2026
ISBN 978-1972766187
Print length 38 pages
Reading age 6+ years
Price $19.99 Paperback, $2.99 Kindle edition
