July is National Ice Cream Month

Ice cream has been a favorite food in the United States since the 1700s. In the 1800s, an ice cream maker was invented – it allowed people to hand-crank the ice cream inside a bucket of ice, mixing the ingredients until they slowly froze. 

Today, there are electric ice cream makers, and huge ice cream factories make almost a billion gallons of ice cream in the U.S. every year! However, (according to our friend Google) you can actually make ice cream without an ice cream maker (electric or otherwise), if you have a few simple ingredients plus ice, salt, and two plastic bags.

Here are some great books about making and enjoying ice cream. Yum!

The Sweetest Scoop: Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Revolution by Lisa Robinson

Do Lizards Eat Ice Cream?: How Animals Beat the Heat by Etta Kaner

Yummy: A History of Desserts by Victoria Grace Elliott

The Ice Cream Machine by Adam Rubin

Scream for Ice Cream (Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #2) by Carolyn Keene

Ice Cream Soup (Step Into Reading) by Ann Ingalls

The History of Fun Stuff: The Scoop on Ice Cream! (Ready to Read: Level Three) by Bonnie Williams

The Giant Ice Cream Mess (Fox Tails #3) by Tina Kügler

Friends Rock (Unicorn and Yeti #3) by Heather Ayris Burnell

Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook by Tyler Malek

From Milk to Ice Cream (Start to Finish) by Stacy Taus-Bolstad

The Homemade Ice Cream Recipe Book: Old-Fashioned All-American Treats for Your Ice Cream Maker by Robin Donovan

The Story of Ice Cream: It Starts with Milk (Step by Step) by Stacy Taus-Bolstad

The Boy Who Invented the Popsicle: The Cool Science Behind Frank Epperson's Famous Frozen Treat by Anne Renaud

For the Love of Popsicles: Naturally Delicious Icy Sweet Summer Treats from A-Z by Sarah Bond