This was a book I passed over when it first came out and now after having read it I am looking forward to the sequel coming out in 2015!Readers will enjoy the adventures of foodie Gladys Gatsby who is in trouble for almost burning down the house after trying to use a blowtorch to make creme brulee! Now she's forced to make friends instead of cooking.She's also somehow mistaken as a grown up food critic and given an assignment to review a high end dessert restaurant in New York City. To top it off, she's in sixth grade and has homework to do.Lots of fun. While not brilliantly written, this fun, young-adult read was a favorite of both the mothers and daughters at our recent book club. Full of satire and delicious, culinary-inspired prose, Dairman's creative plot centers around Gladys, a quiet, bookish, 11-year-old who dreams of becoming a food critic. Without telling her parents, she submits an essay, about her dream of becoming a food critic, to a national paper. In the newsroom, the essay is mistaken as a cover letter. Thinking she is a freelance restaurant critic and not a 6th grader, Gladys is given an assignment to review one of Manhattan's trendiest dessert spots. As Gladys embarks on the mission without the help of adults, she rises to the occasion by creatively concocting a way to get into the city, and when she fails, she doesn't give up, until she manages to make it to the restaurant. Besides the two-dimensional characters, the downside to Dairman's fanciful plot is our stark reality that kids are not expected to have real-world experiences until much older. This fun, clean read reminds us that despite our reality, kids are capable of so much more than we think.
What do You think about All Four Stars (2014)?
Review coming after the Cybils' Best Middle Grade Fiction is announced in early Feb.
—elaine
2.5 stars, rounding up.Cute, but a little too twee for me.
—juliiii
