Food for Thought

In this memoir, Rex Ogle recounts his family's struggles with poverty, hunger, and violence.

In this exposé, award-winning journalist Eric Schlosser explores the effects of the American fast food industry on global health, labor conditions, and the environment.

Adapted for young readers, this important work is an investigation into the ways food production is shaped by politics and the effects of our food choices.

Journalist Charles Fishman explores humanity's need for and use of water — and the threat of water scarcity.

In this nonfiction account, Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos trace the not-so-sweet history of sugar and its role in the slave trade.

Emoni Santiago pursues her dream of becoming a chef while finishing high school and raising her daughter.

Anna Chiu is a high-schooler who tries to hold her family together as her mother struggles with mental illness.

When Primrose's parents are lost at sea, she finds companionship and comfort at an unusual restaurant where every dish is served on top of a waffle.

Twelve-year-old Della struggles to come to terms with her mother's mental illness.

When Charlie Bucket and four other children find golden tickets in their chocolate bars, they are invited to tour Willy Wonka's famous candy factory.

When Jerry refuses to sell chocolates for his school's annual fundraiser, his defiance is seen as a challenge to the school's powerful secret society.

Siblings Evan and Jessie engage in an all-out war to sell the most lemonade before school starts.

Joe Mondragon finds a dry plot of land and illegally taps into an irrigation channel, setting up a battle between big business and the small farmers of Milagro.

Ten-year-old Sugar endures grueling work on a sugar plantation, but her friendships with the plantation owner's son and new Chinese laborers offer her hope and community.

Author Paul Fleischman coined the term seedfolks to describe ordinary people whose lives are connected by a community garden.

Teenagers Penelope and Xander navigate first love and family matters while working at Penelope's father's restaurant.

A cooking class brings together two sixth graders from different backgrounds.

In this twist on the musical My Fair Lady that was inspired by George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, Helena Higgins and Penelope Pickering, students at 19th-century London's Royal Academy of Culinaria Artisticus, disagree on whether transforming street vendor Elijah Little into a gentleman chef is a worthwhile project.

This investigative nonfiction book provides a revealing behind-the-scenes look at the fast food industry.

Author Lisa Graff cooks up a plot with magical ingredients and just the right amount of sweetness as she tells this tale of an orphan with a talent for baking and a mysterious past. Will this list of words be a piece of cake for you?

When a land developer unveils plans to raze a local eatery, thirteen-year-old Arturo must prove how important his family's restaurant is to his community.

After her grandfather becomes sick, eleven-year-old Maizy moves from Los Angeles to Last Chance, Minnesota, where she struggles to fit in as her family's Chinese restaurant is targeted with racist attacks.

Faced with uncomfortable changes in his life, sixth grader Elliott Quigley Sawyer knows that the best thing for him to focus on is cooking.

In this collection, all six stories feature an ice cream machine with different characters and situations, from a five-armed robot to an alien space lab.