Tomatoes for Neela

Padma Lakshmi, bestselling author and host of Bravo's Top Chef and Hulu's Taste the Nation, and Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal team up in this celebration of food and family.

"Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of cooking with the women in my family. It is the foundation for all I have spent my life working on." -Padma Lakshmi

Neela loves cooking with her amma and writing down the recipes in her notebook. It makes her feel closer to her paati who lives far away in India. On Saturdays, Neela and Amma go to the green market and today they are buying tomatoes to make Paati's famous sauce. But first, Neela needs to learn about all the different kinds of tomatoes they can pick from. And as Neela and Amma cook together, they find a way for Paati to share in both the love and the flavors of the day.

Bestselling author and host of Bravo's Top Chef and Hulu's Taste the Nation Padma Lakshmi takes young readers on an intergenerational journey full of delicious flavors and fun food facts that celebrates a family's treasured recipes. And Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal brings this circle of women to life with vivid detail and warmth. Tomatoes for Neela lovingly affirms how we can connect to other cultures, as well as to our own, through food.

Author: Padma Lakshmi
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Published: 08/31/2021
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 12.00h x 9.60w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780593202708
Audience: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.8
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 515490 / Tomatoes for Neela


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2021
Publishers Weekly 06/21/2021
Booklist 07/01/2021 pg. 91
School Library Journal 09/01/2021 pg. 77
Shelf Awareness 09/03/2021

About the Author
Padma Lakshmi is the creator and host of Hulu's Taste the Nation and host and executive producer of the Emmy-winning Bravo series Top Chef. She is the bestselling author of two cookbooks, the Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs, as
well as her memoir Love, Loss, and What We Ate. Lakshmi is also cofounder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, an artist ambassador for the ACLU, and a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations. She lives in New York City with her daughter. Her favorite kind of tomato is a San Marzano.

Juana Martinez-Neal is the winner of the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award for La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya and the Caldecott Honor Award for Alma and How She Got Her Name, which she also wrote. Originally from Lima, Peru, she lives with her husband and three children in Arizona where she cooks with lots of Roma tomatoes.