Sunday Brunch

Diggs, Taye and Shane W. Evans. Chocolate Me.

Johnny, Timmy and Mark make fun of young Taye because he does not look like them, nor does he have a similar name. His hair is curly, his skin is dark, and his nose is wide. These comments make Taye doubt his own worth, but his supportive mother points out to him that he has many fine qualities, and is the same color as chocolate. She makes him cupcakes to share with his friends, who also agree that chocolate can be a good thing.

My favorite part of this book was the t shirts that Taye is wearing, all of which bear supportive messages like "Number 1 Son" and "Be Super". The pictures are colorful and appealing.

Pinkwater, Daniel. Mrs. Noodlekugel.

ARC from Netgalley.com

Nick and Maxine move into a tall apartment building and accidentally get a glimpse of a small house with a garden in the center of their block. They are told not to go there, but once they find that they can get to the area through the boiler room of their building, they go and meet Mrs. Noodlekugel, her talking cat, and her four nearsighted mice. It turns out that she will be their babysitter, but their parents told them not to visit her so that they would be more intrigued and get to meet her. (Is this a good lesson? Hmmm.) They bake some magical cookies with her, and get to find out a little about her world.

Strengths: The pictures are adorable, even in rough draft, and the premise is an intriguing ones.

Weaknesses: I was expecting something like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and while the set up is there, the follow through is not. In fact, when I got to the end of the book, I strongly suspected that half the pages were missing. Maybe this will be a series, so the book ended abruptly to entice children to pick up the next one, but I did have the distinct feeling that this was unfinished.

Food, in one way or another

McClain, Lee. Sizzle.
Linda has a good life with her Aunt Elba, who runs a small diner in Arizona, but her aunt's health is bad enough to send Linda off to live with her Aunt Pat in Pittsburgh. Pat also cooking, but instead of the flavorful, fresh Mexican food that Linda likes to cook, Pat favors carb-heavy casseroles from cans, recipes for which she shares on her local cooking show, Cooking From Cans. This is in part because there are a lot of children in the family, including foster child Angel, who is having a hard time but takes to Linda because of their shared cultural heritage. Linda misses Arizona and cooking, and tries to "help" Pat out by teaching her that Linda's way of cooking is better, which imperils the show, which is a much needed source of income. She also needs to learn to get along with the other girls in the family, even though she has a crush on the same boy that one of her new sisters does.
Strengths: Very nice treatment of fitting in at school and with a new family, good cooking details, and a sweet budding romance. This is definitely one to add to the list of middle grade cooking novels!
Weaknesses: What happened to Linda's parents is never addressed and I kept waiting for it. Also, there is a web site listed for Pat's show, but it doesn't really exist. For some reason, this irks me, because some books do have real web sites.


Kent, Trilby. Stones for My Father
Nominated for the Cybils by Ivette deBruyn

Corlie's life on a South African farm in the early 1900s is difficult not only because her father has passed away, but because of the fighting between the Khakis (the British) and the Boers. The British frequently find small farm communities and burn them to the ground if they suspect that they are aiding the other side. This happens to Corlie's family, so they set off with a family of friends who are African to find a larger community of people banding together trying to survive. Food is especially scarce. This group is unwilling to take in the African family, fearing that they are on the side of the British, but Corlie's family is able to survive until the British come and force them all into a refugee camp. Things go from bad to worse, with Corlie's brother becoming ill and her mother refusing to care for her any longer. Luckily, a Canadian soldier who knows her helps Corlie get medical treatment and arrange for her care.
Strengths: This is a period of time about which I knew little, and was a harrowing tale of survival under military turmoil.
Weaknesses: This would have been easier to understand if it had started with a preface that included a brief overview of the historical situation, and a list of foreign phrases. Also, this is a small book with a young girl on the cover, but is really more suited for older readers due to violence and situations such as Corlie almost being molested by an old man and the fact that her father was really a British soldier and that's why her mother disliked her.

The Secret Ingredient

Schaefer, Laura. The Secret Ingredient.

Squee! I loved The Teashop Girls, so I was thrilled to see Annie, Zoe and Genna back. Now that they have saved Annie's grandmother's tea shop, The Steeping Leaf, from financial ruin (with help from the annoying Zach, whose father owns the building it is in), Annie is enthused about entering a scone making contest, the prize for which is a trip to London for a high tea tour! In addition to creating a fabulous scone recipe, Annie has to create a blog and be in the top five of blog followers. She spends a ton of time in the summer before high school working on these things, and of course there are obstacles. Genna, back from theater camp, has developed very unhealthy eating habits. Zoe is trying to get the local school system to support locally grown food by serving more veggies in school lunches. Zach continues to be annoying, and another contestant keeps leaving rude remarks on the blog. Annie does manage to make the top five and travels to Chicago for the competition... you'll just have to read the book to find out what happens!

Strengths: It's fun to read about strong girls who have interests that they pursue with a passion. I can't see tea engendering this much enthusiasm, although I certainly am fond of my cup of Barry's Irish, but it's refreshing to see a character put this much effort into a pursuit. The characters are all charming, and who doesn't want to win a trip to London?

Weaknesses: There's no actual SteepingLeafScone.com website! Simon and Schuster should definitely have set one up! I also found it a bit hard to believe that Annie was able to get over 500 followers, but she is much more aggressive about marketing than I am.

Personal Notes: It was a lovely, cooler summer day today, and I managed to run three miles (total: 58) AND drop off 42 baby quilt tops, so after hanging out two loads of laundry and tying up my tomatoes, I sat leisurely on the porch with a cup of tea and enjoyed reading this book. About half way through, I HAD to make one of the scone recipes, choosing the Parmesan and Strawberry that are pictured. Years and years ago (January of 1973, in fact; I have the very first issue) in Cricket Magazine, there was an essay by Lloyd Alexander called "The Hungry Reader". You can see a facsimile of it at The Hungry Reader. When I first read the essay, I had no idea who Alexander was, but I thought about it over the years. Betsy, Tacy and Tib make fudge? I need to, as well. Thus, scones, and a very nice summer day. Thanks, Ms. Schaeffer!