Lela Nargi’s Miss Betti, What Is This? How Detroit’s School Lunch Lady Got Good Food on the Menu (9781534113251, $18.99) is charmingly illustrated by Kristen Uroda and tells of a savvy woman who knows about wholesome, nourishing foods and how to get them into the hands of the kids who need them the most. By beginning with an apple and sweet potato fries and moving to other foods, Miss Betti starts a revolution in good eating that changes the habits of not only one Detroit school, but an entire city as gardens are started, vegetables and fruits are gleaned, and kids enjoy healthier lunches.

A Detroit cafeteria worker acts on her belief that kids deserve delicious, nutritious food. Determined to replace the beige fare that the 46,000 Detroit students in her charge usually found on their lunch trays with more nourishing food—and canny enough to know that she’d have to persuade them to eat it, too—Betti Wiggins started small. Goodbye, iceberg lettuce. Hello, romaine! Out with soggy white potato french fries, in with baked sweet potato fries! Soon a salad bar was stocked with fresh produce….and a lunchroom protest broke out when one principal tried to limit it to upper graders. Eighty school gardens later, plus expanded breakfast and dinner programs, Wiggins was ready for a bigger challenge. Hello, Houston! Not only are the students surrounding the brown-skinned Wiggins in Uroda’s illustrations racially diverse, including one with vitiligo; their expressions also encompass a broad range of emotion, from listlessness to skepticism, dawning interest, and finally big smiles as floating images of fresh fruits and veggies give way to flashing stars and confetti. Nargi closes with a note on her still-active subject’s later achievements and a capsule history of U.S. school lunch programs that includes a provocative nod to those sponsored by the Black Panthers. Dishes up a decidedly well-earned tribute. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Gr 1-4–Betti Wiggins was a school lunch administrator in Michigan who decided to make some big changes to the school lunch program there. The schools were providing meals that were not particularly nutritious or appealing to her young patrons; Wiggins pushed to get better vegetables, switching out iceberg for romaine, more local produce, and removing sugary flavored milk. She also encouraged schools to start school gardens and salad bars so that students could get a better idea of, and appreciate, where their food came from. The cheerful, modern artwork is an excellent counterpart to the concise and interesting text. This would be an excellent book for teaching students about community workers, food production, their own school community, as well as nutrition and healthy food choices.VERDICT With themes of making a difference, taking care of others, and the inclusion of African American innovators, this is an excellent addition to nonfiction collections for elementary students.