Losing my first child, Natasha, to a viral infection at the tender age of 11 weeks, made me painfully aware of the vulnerability of young children. She died in my arms at Great Ormond Street Hospital five days after she was admitted, and I felt devastated that there was absolutely nothing I could do to help her. After Natasha's death, I wanted to channel my grief into something positive that would help other mothers, so I began to look into the whole subject of feeding babies and young children.

For readers familiar with Annabel Karmel from her bestselling Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, her updated edition, including more than 150 new recipes, will be a welcome addition to their recipe book collection. For anyone unaccustomed to Karmel's wisdom, it will simply be a godsend.

The basic premise of Karmel's cooking is that you can get children to eat good, healthy food in place of fast food, if only you prepare and present it correctly. Much care is taken to keep the fun in food--watermelon animal shapes, "Peeping Plums", mixed fruit in ice cream cones and "Mrs Rabbit's Chicken Slices" are just some of the inspirational recipes to tempt your doubting toddler.

Starting with food for babies who are being weaned off milk, the book covers a number of topics in its quest to promote "Healthy Eating for Life". As Karmel rightly points out, much of the palate's education takes place in the first five years of life; get them off junk food then and you'll be laughing. Not that burgers are out of the question-there's a great recipe for burgers made with lean minced beef and a grated Granny Smith in the section on "children's favourites". Similarly, pasta, pizza and banana splits make an appearance, but all with fresh, healthy alternatives to the usual "empty calorie" ingredients Karmel despises.

As well as recipe upon tempting recipe, there's advice on what to do "When Baby Says No!" and endless inspirational tips on how to make good food taste great to young palates and how to present ordinary food so your kids--and the rest of your family--will just love it. If you have one family cookbook on your shelf, make this the one. --Lucie Naylor

Contents:
• Introduction
• Food For Thought
• First Food for Babies
• Healthy Eating for Life
• Special Needs
• Index