Lunchbox Book

Exter aims to ""take the boredom out of the lunchbox'' and encourage children to participate in planning, making and packing luncheswhich, she maintains, can enhance the parent-child relationship. After tips on packing a lunchbox and several bread recipes, the author offers suggestions for sandwiches that contain foods most kids love: peanut butter, tuna fish, chicken salad. Parents may want to adapt some of the recipes, as nutrition-conscious Exter recommends ingredients that are not natural kid-pleasers: tofu, anchovies, green olives. Among the ``non-sandwich main courses'' are pizza, chili, hot dogs and macaroni. Although parents wishing to eliminate junk food from their kids' lunches will find some useful pointers here, this is not the most extensive or versatile lunchbox cookbook we've seen. January