In 2012, there were two children’s books about Julia Child that we added to the library’s collection.

Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland (Schwartz & Wade Books) is a graphic novel that includes numerous details about Julia’s life, from her childhood through her successful career. Because of the design of the book, this title is better suited to our intermediate readers and the adults who read with them. Hartland begins the book with a quote from Julia, “People who love to eat are always the best people.”

For our picture book enthusiasts, Susanna Reich’s Minette’s Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat, illustrated by Amy Bates (Abrams Books for Young Readers), is a better choice. Minette was a cat that Julia and Paul had as a pet when they lived in Paris, and the story is told with her as an important character. In the author’s notes, Reich wrote that she took all of the dialogue from My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme and Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch.

Bon Appetit!