McCORMICK'S QUICK TAKES: BOOKS TO STIR THE COOK IN YOU.

Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up, by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson (Tricycle, 1994).

Katzen--of the Moosewood Cookbook--and Henderson have fashioned a delightful, accessible, and well-illustrated cookbook for the tiniest of chefs and their grown-up helpers. In each of the fun but real recipes, children can do most of the work (and give most of the directions) by following a series of kid-friendly sketches, assisted and encouraged by parents. The text is peppered with quotes from tykes who tried and tested the recipes, finding the experience "cool!"

The result is a book that provides culinary training wheels and confidence to kindergarten cooks, while offering parent and child a chance to savor the joy of cooking together. ****

Clueless in the Kitchen: A Cookbook for Teens, by Evelyn Raab and George Walker (Firefly, 1998). Here's a book many of us should have been introduced to before moving into the dorms or our first apartment!

Written for adolescents (or older beginners) interested in learning their way around the kitchen, Raab offers novice chefs a step-by-step introduction to food shopping, the use and maintenance of kitchen utensils, and cooking.

Well-organized and full of lots of tips and tidbits, this nicely illustrated book stresses the importance of fresh foods and offers a wide assortment of solid and occasionally fun recipes. A great book to get while you're still living with your parents ***

Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress, by Debra Ginsberg (HarperCollins, 2000). This is not a cookbook but a report from one of the millions of folks in the food-service industry who wait on us down at the local restaurant or bar.

Ginsberg, a college grad and single parent who has made a career of waiting on tables, relates lots of funny and dark tales about life on the other side of the menu.

Writing with warmth and dignity, she gives readers a sense of the pleasures and hard labors of her profession, while taking a shot at the social stigma placed on those who are "just" waiters or waitresses--who don't have a "real job."

After reading this, you may not want to answer the "Help Wanted" call at your nearby Perkins, but you'll probably give a bigger tip to the person who serves you there. ***

Twelve Months of Monastery Soups, by Brother Victor-Antoine D'Avila Latourette (Liguori, 1996). The author of From a Monastery Kitchen and Fresh From a Monastery Garden--and, more recently, Simplicity from a Monastery Kitchen (Broadway, 2001)--Brother Victor turns his attention here to a calendar of soups.

Arguing that "of soup and love, the first is best," he lays out a rich collection of different, delicious, and international soups that are tied to the various seasons--and fashioned from the herbs and vegetables available at the local grocer.

The spirituality here is implicit, but the love of fresh things and the reverence for good taste and the companionship of a shared bowl is real.

Have a bowl of one of these soups while watching Babette's Feast. ***

PATRICK MCCORMICK, an associate professor of Christian ethics at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.