Posts Tagged All Four Stars

Cookin’ Up Middle Grade Books

By Natalie Rompella on July 6, 2018 / Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Teachers

I began baking when I was about nine. I loved stuffing brown sugar into a measuring up, hearing the whirring of the mixer, and smoothing out frosting onto a round cake. I still have the recipe my friend and I invented for Sprinkle Cake Cookies. It probably isn’t surprising that my main character in my first novel is a baker as well as I love reading about baking almost as much as I like actually baking (and it’s a lot less messy!).

If you know a middle grade reader who enjoys baking, these books are perfect! And what’s great is that they’re not all about sparkly pink cupcakes. You will see that there are a couple of fantasy and historical fiction books mixed in, ones about boys who love to bake, and some that address serious issues.

Cookie Cutters & Sled Dog Runners by Natalie Rompella
I’m starting with my own contribution here…
Ana Morgan is excited to begin middle school. She and her best friend Lily plan to create a cookbook for the school’s Explorations Fair, but when Ana is assigned a new partner, things quickly go sour. As Ana’s life gets out of control, so does her anxiety. Germs bother her and make her wash her hands. A lot. And then she begins her Explorations project with the new girl…on sled dog racing—something she’s never even heard of. But when life gives her lemons, can she make lavender lemonade? Contains recipes in the book (including my childhood recipe for Sprinkle Cake Cookies).

Undercover Chefs by Erin Fry
Three unlikely friends join forces to win a baking competition and save their school’s culinary classroom. Isaac, a nationally-ranked runner; Jane, a shy artist; and J.C., a rebellious scooter rider – all have a secret passion for cooking. The promise of a cupcake contest lures them to an unusual classroom on the outskirts of campus. As they share friendship and a love for cooking, the pressures of the contest start to boil over – a recipe for disaster that could destroy their chances at winning! The heat is on, and Isaac, Jane and J.C. must figure out a way to salvage their cupcakes, save the culinary classroom from being demolished, and protect their secrets before the judges cast their final votes.

Cupcake Cousins by Kate Hannigan
Nine-year old cousins, Willow and Delia, can’t wait to spend a week vacationing together with their families. Their aunt is getting married, and Willow and Delia are hoping their tasty baked goods will be enough to get them out of being flower girls in the wedding.
But with a mischievous little brother, a bacon-loving dog, and a misbehaving blender in the mix, their treats don’t exactly turn out as planned. When a real emergency threatens to ruin the wedding, will their baking skills be enough to save the day? [Book 1 in the Cupcake Cousins series]

Lights, Camera, Cook! by Charise Mericle Harper
It’s “lights, camera, cook ” for four tween contestants–energetic Tate, charming Rae, worldly Caroline, and hyper-competitive Oliver–who are all about to enter a televised cooking competition.
What will the kids cook up? How will they all get along on- and off-camera? Which junior chef will have the grit–and maybe the grits–to make it through each challenge? And which junior chef will have to hang their apron up for good? Bonus: Includes real cooking techniques for the aspiring young chef. [Book 1 in the Next Best Chef series]

Peace, Love, and Cupcakes by Sheryl Berk
Kylie Carson is a fourth grader with a big problem. How will she make friends at her new school? Should she tell her classmates she loves monster movies? Forget it. Play the part of a turnip in the school play? Disaster Then Kylie comes up with a delicious idea: What if she starts a cupcake club?

Soon Kylie’s club is spinning out tasty treats with the help of her fellow bakers and new friends. But when Meredith tries to sabotage the girls’ big cupcake party, will it be the end of the Cupcake Club? [Book 1 in The Cupcake Club series]

Save the Cupcake! by Lisa Papademetriou
Hayley’s world is far from perfect: Her parents have divorced, her mom has lost her job, and she and her sister Chloe are stuck sharing a bedroom in their grandmother’s apartment. Luckily, Hayley has a knack for baking cupcakes — and cupcakes always make life just a little sweeter But when she and her best friend Artie start drifting apart, she realizes that it’s going to take more than sugar and spice to make things nice. [Book 1 in the Confectionately Yours series]

Baker’s Magic by Diane Zahler
Bee is an orphan, alone in a poor, crumbling kingdom. In desperation, she steals a bun from a bakery. To Bee’s surprise, the baker offers her a place at his shop. As she learns to bake, Bee discovers that she has a magical power. When a new friend desperately needs her help against an evil mage, Bee wonders what a small orphan girl with only a small bit of magic can do. Bee’s journey to help her friend becomes a journey to save the kingdom, and a discovery of the meaning of family.

The Baking Life of Amelie Day by Vanessa Curtis
Thirteen-year-old Amelie Day loves to bake so she’s thrilled when she’s invited to compete in the Best Teen Baker of the Year contest. But Amelie has Cystic Fibrosis, and some days she can barely breathe. Determined not to let her condition or her mom stop her from taking part, Amelie musters all her Flour Power. But will it be enough to get her to the top?

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
Foster McFee dreams of having her own cooking show like her idol, celebrity chef Sonny Kroll. Macon Dillard’s goal is to be a documentary filmmaker. Foster’s mother Rayka longs to be a headliner instead of a back-up singer. And Miss Charleena plans a triumphant return to Hollywood. Everyone has a dream, but nobody is even close to famous in the little town of Culpepper. Until some unexpected events shake the town and its inhabitants-and put their big ambitions to the test.

Gingersnap by Patricia Reilly Giff
It’s 1944, W.W. II is raging. Jayna’s big brother Rob is her only family. When Rob is called to duty on a destroyer, Jayna is left in their small town in upstate New York with their cranky landlady. But right before he leaves, Rob tells Jayna a secret: they may have a grandmother in Brooklyn. Rob found a little blue recipe book with her name and an address for a bakery. When Jayna learns that Rob is missing in action, she’s devastated. Along with her turtle Theresa, the recipe book, and an encouraging, ghostly voice as her guide, Jayna sets out for Brooklyn in hopes of finding the family she so desperately needs.

All Four Stars by Tara Dairman
Meet Gladys Gatsby: New York’s toughest restaurant critic. (Just don’t tell anyone that she’s in sixth grade.) Gladys Gatsby has been cooking gourmet dishes since the age of seven, only her fast-food-loving parents have no idea. Now she’s eleven, and after a crème brûlée accident (just a small fire), Gladys is cut off from the kitchen (and her allowance). She’s devastated but soon finds just the right opportunity to pay her parents back when she’s mistakenly contacted to write a restaurant review for one of the largest newspapers in the world. But in order to meet her deadline and keep her dream job, Gladys must cook her way into the heart of her sixth-grade archenemy and sneak into New York City–all while keeping her identity a secret Easy as pie, right?

Pie by Sarah Weeks
When Alice’s Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, passes away, she takes with her the secret to her world-famous pie-crust recipe. Or does she? In her will, Polly leaves the recipe to her extraordinarily fat, remarkably disagreeable cat, Lardo . . . and then leaves Lardo in the care of Alice.

Suddenly, the whole town is wondering how you leave a recipe to a cat. Everyone wants to be the next big pie-contest winner, and it’s making them pie-crazy. It’s up to Alice and her friend Charlie to put the pieces together and discover the not-so-secret recipe for happiness: Friendship. Family. And the pleasure of doing something for the right reason.

Sprinkles and Secrets by Lisa Schroeder
Twelve-year-old Sophie has always dreamed of being an actress and being in front of the camera. When that dream comes true and she’s offered a T.V. commercial spot, she’s over-the-moon happy. But then she finds out what exactly she’ll be advertising: the delectable, ever-popular brownies from BEATRICE’S BROWNIES, which just so happns to be the number one competitor to IT’S RAINING CUPCAKES—owned by her best friend, Isabel’s, family. Sophie has a tough choice to make: Follow her dreams or crush her best friend. What’s a girl to do?

Anyone else getting hungry? I hope you enjoy these tasty treats!

The Stars of Summer-Giveaway & Chat with Tara Dairman

By LouG on May 5, 2015 / Author Interviews, Book Lists, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Giveaways, Writing

In this charming sequel to All Four Stars, eleven-year-old foodie Gladys Gatsby now has her first published review under her belt and is looking forward to a quiet summer of cooking and reviewing. But her plans quickly go awry when her friend Charissa Bentley delivers Gladys’s birthday gift: a free summer at Camp Bentley.

As Gladys feared, camp life is not easy: she struggles to pass her swim test and can’t keep the other campers happy while planning lunches. The worst part is she can’t seem to get away from the annoying new “celebrity” camper and sneak away for her latest assignment—finding the best hot dog in New York City. But when it turns out her hot dog assignment was a dirty trick by a jealous reviewer, Gladys’s reviewing career may be over forever.

My kids and I were thrilled to read an ARC of THE STARS OF SUMMER, as we’d loved ALL FOR STARS. Today I’m delighted to be talking with the books’ author, Tara Dairman.

Hi, Tara! One of my favorite things about your writing is the way you present girl/boy friendships, making your books appealing to all kids. (My son really enjoyed THE STARS OF SUMMER!) Did you have boys as close friends growing up? How important do you think it is that we move away from labels like “Boy Books” and “Girl Books?”

Thanks so much, Louise! I’m so glad you and your son enjoyed Gladys’s relationships with her friends, male and female. Sandy, Gladys’s best friend, isn’t based on anyone in particular from my real life, but I did have good friends who were boys as a middle-grader and teenager. And now, as a homeschool writing tutor, I love putting great books in the hands of my students regardless of the reader’s gender and of whether there’s a boy or a girl on the book’s cover. I think that we’re really shortchanging kids if we give them the message, from such a young age, that certain books are not for them. If we only ever consumed stories about characters who were exactly like ourselves, the world would be a very boring place.

Gladys gets an “assignment” to find and review the world’s best hot dog. The results are hilarious! I have to know: Do you like hot dogs? And how many of the varieties presented in the books have you actually tasted? Any favorites?

I love hot dogs. Even when I was writing some of the grosser hot dog scenes in the book, I would find myself craving a hot dog!

Like Gladys’s friend Parm, I was a very picky eater growing up, but hot dogs were always a hit. Then, as an adult, when I backpacked around the world, I was surprised at how universal hot dogs were—they kept popping up in so many countries, with so many fantastic variations! Every international hot dog that Gladys eats in the book I have eaten as well; in fact, the ones I chose to have her cover for her review (Chilean completo Italiano, Icelandic pylsur, Thai battered and fried hot dog, New Mexican Sonoran, Nathan’s famous, and South African Gatsby) are all favorites of mine.

Aaaand now I want a hot dog.

Speaking of the scrumptious and often “exotic” food mentioned in THE STARS OF SUMMER, how do you research all of these delicious dishes Gladys reviews and makes? Do they spring from your own personal globetrotting experiences?

Yes, exactly. I wrote a lot of ALL FOUR STARS before I went world-traveling, so the foods in that book are based more on foods I tried as a teenager and young adult in New York City. But THE STARS OF SUMMER draws heavily on cuisines I sampled in my travels. I sometimes had to go back to my travel blog or do some sleuthing online to confirm my memories of certain dishes, but for the most part, not a lot of extra research was required.

I love the plot surprises and twists in your books. As a writer, I’m curious to know how much pre-plotting you do before you write. Did you find writing the sequel more challenging than writing the first book? Do you have any advice for writers working under tight deadlines?

For me, these two questions are related, so I’m going to answer them together. I found writing THE STARS OF SUMMER much easier than writing ALL FOUR STARS, and I think there are two main reasons why. Firstly, I spent so many years working on ALL FOUR STARS that, by the end, I knew my characters inside and out. That made it so much easier to stick them into a new situation in the sequel, because I already knew what their passions were and how they’d react to just about anything I threw at them. And secondly, I outlined THE STARS OF SUMMER very fastidiously before I started to write it (I explain my process in detail here: http://taradairman.com/2013/09/19/first-drafting-now-96-faster/). Of course, details always change in the execution, but knowing where all the major plot turns were in advance helped me feel confident as I drafted the book and get the work done quickly.

I’ve heard Book Three is in the works. Congratulations! What can you tell us about Gladys’s upcoming adventures? Do you know a release date yet?

Thank you—I’m excited that the series is continuing! Book Three should be out in Summer 2016. I don’t want to give too much away, but I can tell you that Gladys will be starting middle school, and will be getting an unexpected houseguest and an even more unexpected (or should I just say less expected?) job offer.

Oooh, unexpected houseguest AND a new job! Now I’m speculating…

Tara is graciously giving away a copy of THE STARS OF SUMMER to one very lucky commenter! We’d like to know your favorite hot dog toppings/flavor, or favorite foreign dish.

Tara Dairman is the author of ALL FOUR STARS, which was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month and a Mighty Girl Top Book of 2014 for Teens and Tweens. She is also a playwright and recovering world traveler. She grew up in New York and received a B.A. in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College. After surviving the world’s longest honeymoon (two years, seventy-four countries!), she now lives in Colorado with her husband and their trusty waffle iron.