Hilltown Families 
Q&A: 19 Children’s Books on Food Security/Scarcity
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
Click here to download our list of recommended titles.
Do you have a favorite children’s book that touches on the topic of food security/scarcity you care to share? Hilltown Families is collaborating with The Food Bank of Western MA on compiling a list of kids books that have to do with fighting hunger, soup kitchens, food banks, etc. for their Youth Action Hunger program.
- Cara Letendre recommends: Tight Times. Written by Barbara Shook Hazen. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.
- Sarah Buttenwieser recommends: A Chair for My Mother. Written and illustrated by Vera B. Williams.
- Katryna Nields recommends: Meet Kit (American Girls Collection: Kit 1934). Written by Valerie Trip. Illustrated by Walter Rane. – “The Kit series from American Girl is about a girl living through the depression. It shows lots of economic insecurity. I cannot remember if it specifically deals with food scarcity. This is a chapter book series not a picture book. But I think it does a great job of teaching about the Great Depression.”
- Melissa Carta Miller recommends: Out of the Dust. Written by Karen Hesse.
- Gillian Goodwin recommends: The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough. Written by Katie Smith Milway. Illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault.
- Allegra Goodman recommends: The Mighty Miss Malone. Written by Christopher Paul Curtis.
- Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn recommends: December. Written by Eve Bunting. Illustrated by David Diaz.
- Carlen Arnett recommends: Lu and the Swamp Ghost. Written by James Carville & Patricia McKissack. Illustrated by David Catrow. – “A story about a friendship between a hungry runaway boy and a girl with a family. Beautiful, funny, consoling with really enthralling moments.
- Amy Meltzer recommends: Gettin’ Through Thursday. Written by Melrose Cooper. Illustrated by Nineka Bennett.
- Melissa Wells Flynn & Ron Quinlingotta recommend: Stone Soup. Written/illustrated by many different authors/illustrators.
- Katryna Nields recommends: Stone Soup. Illustrated by Jon J. Muth.
- Mary Tessier Curro recommends: Stone Soup. – “We read different versions of Stone Soup, and then make stone soup as part of our kindergarten curriculum in Holyoke, MA.”
- David Frazier recommends: How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant?: A Munch-and-Sip Pop-Up Book. Written by Caitlin Friedman. Illustrated by Shawn Nielsen.
- John L. Grossman recommends: Mama Panya’s Pancakes. Written by Mary & Richard Chamberlin. Illustrated by Julia Cairns.
- Sienna Wildfield recommends: Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen. By Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan. & A Kids’ Guide to Hunger & Homelessness: How to Take Action! Written by Cathryn Berger Kaye.
- Brendan recommends: Spuds. By Karen Hesse. Illustrated by Wendy Watson.
- Paula recommends: Fly Away Home. Written by Eve Bunting. Illustrated by Ronald Himler.
- The Family Under the Bridge. Written by Natalie Savage Carlson. Illustrated by Garth Williams.
- Chicken Soup for Little Souls: The Braids Girl. Written by Lisa McCourt & Tim Ladwig.
- The Lady in the Box. Written by Ann McGovern. Illustrated by Marni Backer.
RECOMMEND A TITLE:
Publicly post any titles you’d like to recommend below, or submit it privately here:
RECOMMENDED TITLES FOR ADULTS:
- The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities. Written by Will Allen.
- The Urban Food Revolution: Changing the Way We Feed Cities. Written by Peter Ladner.
- Food and the City: Urban Agriculture and the New Food Revolution. Written by Jennifer Cockrall-King.
- How Shall We Feed Them?: A Practical Guide for Organizing a Food Pantry. Written by Marty Girardier.
RESOURCES IN WESTERN MA:
Thank you for sharing your great list, Kerrie!
As a writer & one who studies folk & fairy tales, I came up with a list a few years ago that I called, “Stories for a Weak Economy”. I hope to write some adaptations inspired by some of them, but here’s the list:
Stone Soup
Hansel & Gretel
One Grain of Rice
The Porridge Pot
Jack & the Beanstalk
The Shoemaker & the Elves
The Little Match Girl
Heidi
A Little Princess
Feeding the Multitude: The Loaves & the Fishes
The Crow & the Pitcher
Frederick by Leo Lionni (not a fairy/folktale, but a lovely tale about gathering what we need to survive)
Pied Piper of Hamelin
Bremen Town Musicians
The Twelve Months
Silvershod
Snow White & Rose Red
Annie
Cinderella
Beauty & the Beast