Cookbook has star power

TORTILLA TRUTH-Helping children to appreciate their own heritage is just part of what Dolly Wiseman hopes o accomplish with her new children's story and ookbook, "Everyone Loves Tortillas." The Calabasas esident is shown here with her middle son, Brandon, a musician with the band Incubus. Wiseman has two more ookbooks for children baking. When Dolly Calderon Wiseman was 10 years old, her mother took a dozen of her homemade flour tortillas to work and traded them for a Norwegian friend's homemade lefse, a similar flatbread. That exchange turned out to be a significant mark in Wiseman's life.

"On that day, I began to appreciate my heritage," Wiseman said. "I learned that families who lived countries-or even continents-away, were enjoying food wrapped up in a tortilla, just as my family did."

It was this experience that inspired Wiseman, a 17-year Calabasas resident, to write a children's story and cookbook, "Everyone Loves Tortillas," complete with 23 flatbread recipes, from Indian chapati to Italian piadine to Persian nan bread.

The short story preceding t h e cookbook i s about a young girl, Maria, who is embarrassed when her grandmother packs a burrito for her lunch on the first day of school. But as the day goes on, Maria learns that many of her classmates, from all over the world, share a love of tortillas, even if that's not what they call them.

"We are more alike than we are different," Wiseman said. "There are children all over the world that are like the children here. We are eating the same kind of foods, we just call them different names."

Wiseman, who loves to cook and is an accomplished painter, said she has had the desire to write for some time, but after an early acting career, she focused on raising her three boys. All her children inherited her creativity, most notably in music.

Wiseman's middle son, Brandon Boyd, is the lead singer in the Calabasas-born band Incubus. Also an artist, Boyd designed the cover of "Everyone Eats Tortillas."

"My mom has been writing and painting since I can remember," Boyd said. "And it is so exciting to see the first of what will be many publications from her unique and creative voice.

"I was honored to help with the cover," Boyd added. "I only hope that warming a tortilla on the range, putting it in my scanner, Photoshopping it into a legible book cover, then eating the tortilla with some butter afterwards, will somehow help people around the world enjoy her work as much as I do." Wiseman agreed that she inspired her children's creativity, bualso insisted that they have encouaged her in the same way. She hopes to share her passions with more children and is looking forward to visiting schools and finding out if the students enjoy her favorite pastime, too.

"Talking to kids is so much fun," Wiseman said. "I want to know, are they allowed to cook? Do they want to help their parents in the kitchen?"

Wiseman said the book not only helps kids learn to follow directions and practice math, but helps build their confidence.

"They learn to accomplish something that tastes good and that they can be proud of," Wiseman said. "Cooking together is a wonderful activity."

From muffins to full meals, baking and cooking is a daily activity, not just for Wiseman, but her whole family. Cooking with her husband, Brad, is the best way to spend an evening together, according to the couple. Wiseman has completed two more cookbooks for her Kids Are Cooks series, and has more ideas that she says she can't wait to get out.

"I think I'm supposed to be writing at this point in my life," Wiseman said. "It's just coming out.

"When I was younger, I wanted to direct everything. Life is easy and wonderful, particularly if you just watch and go along. It really seems like this is what I'm supposed to be doing."

Wiseman will be at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Woodland Hills at 1 p.m. Sat., Nov. 18. The book is also available at amazon.com.

For more information, visit www.KidsAreCooks.com.