Presenting accurate information to children about where their food comes from is the goal of the 2012 American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture “Book of the Year” – “How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? The Story of Food.”

Author Chris Butterworth received the Foundation’s fifth annual “Book of the Year” award during the recent AFBF annual meeting. The book shows young readers how each ingredient made its journey to their lunchbox with illustrations by artist Lucia Gaggiotti that highlight many aspects of farming and include information on food safety and nutrition.

Butterworth, a native of England, is the author of more than 70 nonfiction books for children, covering a diverse range of issues.

“There’s always something else to find out about, and writing about a thing is the best way to find out about it,” said Butterworth. “I started writing information books when my own children were little. I couldn’t find the sort of book I wanted them to read, so I wrote one of my own.”

The Book of the Year award is part of the foundation’s effort to identify “accurate ag books,” a data base that now includes more than 400 books for children, teenagers and adults. In addition to their accuracy, Book of the Year selections are educational, reflect farmers’ and ranchers’ love for the land and what they do, create positive public perceptions about agriculture, inspire readers to learn more and touch their readers’ lives as well as tell the farmer’s story.