MY FIRST COOKBOOK

At first glance, this oversize book--with its arresting color photos of tools, ingredients, processes, and finished products--looks unusually inviting; and it does include some good ideas, especially for decorative shapes and garnishes. But the book also has some serious shortcomings: more than half the recipes are for sweets; there are no lists of ingredients; and a quarter of one page is devoted to a photo of a heap of flour, while another shows a mounded (but not full) teaspoon of baking powder when a level teaspoon is specified. Altogether, then, the emphasis here seems more on showy appearance than on serious cooking instruction.