Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Moskowitz, Isa Chandra and Terry Romero. Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2006. 144 pages $15.95 ISBN 9781569242735

Plot Summary: This small cookbook is packed with delicious recipes for cupcakes and frosting including classic vanilla, chocolate, carrot cake, and even chai. All the recipes are vegan, which means they do not contain and animal products.

Critical Evaluation: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World is a great cookbook for vegans and non-vegans. I've made several recipes in the book and non-vegans have loved them. The recipes are very straight forward and fairly easy to prepare. As long as the baker has permission to use the kitchen and oven, they should be able to create delicious cupcakes.

Reader's Annotation: Learn to make scrumptious cupcakes without using animal products.

Author Bio: Isa and Terry are the authors of several vegan cookbooks and hosts of the web/public access show The Post Punk Kitchen. Both women live in New York City, Isa in Brooklyn in a tiny apartment where they film their cooking show, and Terry in Queens.

Genre: Cookbook, Non-Fiction

Curriculum Ties: This would be great for a home-ec class to teach about alternative diets and how delicious they can be.

Booktalking Ideas: Talk about cupcakes. Take a vote on who loves cupcakes. Also find out if anyone is already vegetarian or vegan. Then tell them what kinds of recipes are in the book. They'll end up drooling.

Reading Level/Interest Age: Ages 9 and up, for kids who are able to use the kitchen and up.

Challenges: The non-dairy, non-egg thing may be tricky for some students to get past, but there shouldn't be any reason for book challenges.

Reason for including: This has been a favorite cookbook of mine since it came out. Cooking should be a skill everyone learns, and that includes baking. The vegan lifestyle is definitely a lot healthier than most, so encouraging that (without being preachy) is worth it. The book is fun and delicious and would appeal to tween girls for sure.