Fresh Bento

Parents seeking alternatives to unhealthy snacks and school cafeteria lunches will find a treasure trove of ideas within these pages.

Dubbed the "Willy Wonka of school lunches," Wendy Thorpe Copley is back with an array of fun and healthy lunchtime options for kids. Follow her lead as she transforms simple, affordable and nutritious ingredients into appealing bento box lunches your kids will ask for again and again!

With over 46 themed bento box options to choose from, this book allows you to create lunch with a selection of food that you know your kid likes to eat. Substitutions and other suggestions are included to accommodate picky eaters and allergies. Not only will your child eat better, but you'll save money with this economical alternative to school lunch!

The bentos in the book are packed with whimsical and innovative ideas:

• An out-of-this-world Astronaut Bento featuring apples, avocado "aliens", almonds, dried apricots and an almond butter and apricot jam sandwich
• An abominably delicious Yeti Bento with yams, yellow bell peppers, yeti-shaped rice balls and yaki onigiri
• Four-season treats like daisy-, sun-, leaf- and snowflake-shaped cheese and a quartet of sandwich quarters, cherry tomatoes, strawberries and chocolate-covered raisins.
• Spidery eight-legged Bento containing figure-eight pastries, eight-shaped tomato skewers and a blackberry spider with eight icing eyes.
• A Rainbow Bento with grapes, raspberries, blueberries and orange, yellow and green bell peppers.
• A bento for each letter of the alphabet, number or color.
• And much, much more!

Each bento takes only minutes to assemble when the components are prepped in advance. Plus, picking a theme, cutting out fun shapes and arranging the food makes a great family activity that kids will love to be a part of!