ALA Booklist (Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2018)

Kelley began cooking at age seven. Two years later, she started a YouTube cooking channel, and now, at 15, she has her own series on Foodnetwork.com. In this book, she presents 80 of her favorite recipes, from everyday snacks (kale chips, guacamole, peach and oat bars), main dishes (breakfast and "double-duty" dinners that convert leftovers into tomorrow's lunch), and desserts (dark chocolate coconut fondue, anyone?) to holiday fare and skin care. Healthy is the best word to describe each appealing, tested recipe. For each, she introduces the recipe, followed by necessary preparations, an easy-to-follow ingredients list, and thorough directions for completion. Many of the recipes include a luscious full-page photo of the finished dish. (Drooling is accepted!) Fresh ingredients will not always be something already on the shelf, but they are readily available in most supermarkets. A detailed, highlighted index is a great feature. This joins a growing list of recently published cooking books for teens, but it is sure to be a popular addition to any cookbook collection.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Kelley, the teenage star of the online series Cook with Amber, debuts with a broad-ranging collection of recipes and tips for versatile and creative cooking. In addition to bright photographs of ingredients and the prepared recipes, she includes images of her family gatherings and her meetings with famed figures such as Michelle Obama (after Kelley won the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge in 2013). She offers ideas for festive occasions, including a Halloween party and -Springsgiving,- which her family began celebrating because -I absolutely love Thanksgiving, but around springtime, I start to crave those amazing holiday flavors again.- Ages 8-12. (Oct.)

School Library Journal (Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Gr 8 Up-Kelley, a Food Network Star Kids winner and YouTube cooking star, puts her exuberant stamp on a "feel-good" collection of recipes and daily tips for teens. Organized thematically, readers will uncover a mixture of simple and ambitious recipes emphasizing nourishing and fresh ingredients for both everyday routines and special occasions. The "Double-Duty Weeknight Dinners" section is a real starshowcasing how different delicious dinners, such as "Grilled Flank Steak and Veggies," easily become tomorrow's tasty "Steak and Veggie Wrap with Caper Dill Cream" lunch. Vibrant color photography of finished dishes as well as the author and her family/friends is found throughout but not always used in the most effective manner. Readers desiring some depictions of recipes in-progress will go wanting; they may also find recipe flow disrupted at times by full-page photographs. Along similar lines, the introduction takes on a bit more than it can chew, tasked with familiarizing readers with Kelley's backstory as well as expounding on kitchen tips, knife skills, and cooking safety advice. Teens may overlook these issues, though, as they gobble up the author's enthusiastic anecdotes before each recipe and follow along with time management tips involving different personal routines. Both metric and imperial measurements are given. VERDICT Appealing but perhaps limited in audience scope. Consider for public libraries looking to build a cookbook collection for teens. Pearl Derlaga, York County Public Library, VA