Sweet Tween Pick: Frosting and Friendship

Frosting and Friendship
by Lisa Schroeder
Aladdin
2013
216 pages
ISBN: 9781442473966

Frothy, friendly, feminine and flirty, Frosting and Friendship is a fun read for tweens who love adventures in food!


Lily joins a mother-daughter book club with her mom and is excited until...she realizes that the host of each month's  meeting has a bake a beautiful culinary confection. Lily is so doomed! Her baking disasters have haunted her for years. She considers herself a zero when it comes to baking and wishes that the other girls would allow the hostess to simply buy a dessert from the store or local bakery. The other girls are emphatic: the dessert must be home-made. Lily has only two months to learn how to bake and the bar is set for high standards.

Lily's mom assures her that two months is a long time, and they can figure this baking thing out together. Lily is still not sure and spends her time practicing with her garage band. When the school announces that it's having its Spring Fling, the band is excited to try out for it. Lily is torn between spending time with her band mates and practicing or learning to  bake something over the top in order to wow The Baking Bookworms.

Those two endeavors  would be enough for any tween to balance, but then Lily agrees to help plan and host a surprise  birthday party for her friend Sophie.  Being pulled in three different directions is not pleasant and something has got  to give.

Each short chapter is has a cute title: "Music Lovers Cupcakes: A Perfect Harmony of Chocolate and Vanilla" and "Lollipops : Happiness on a Stick." This is a quick read and should appeal to girls, reluctant readers and "Koodies"--kids who are foodies.

For a sweet, sweet time reading, Frosting and Friendship takes the cake (yes, pun intended). Fans of Schroeder's culinary themed  books It's Raining Cupcakes and Sprinkles and Secrets will like Frosting and Friendship.

Recommended grade 5 and up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Foodie/Koodie Pick: So, You Want To Be a Chef? How To Get Started in the World of Culinary Arts

So, You Want To Be a Chef?
by Jane Bedell
Beyond Words/Aladdin
2013
224 pages

Entertaining, noteworthy, informative, and just plain fun, So You Want To Be a Chef? is a must have for anyone with a passion for food.

Foodies and Koodies(kids with a culinary flair) everywhere will be clamoring to get this book. Filled with advice, this little gem tells passionate young cooks/chefs/koodies all the information they will need to decide on a future in the culinary industry. Cooks will need to have a passion for cooking, good management skills and "...an artist's eye is required" in this industry.

Bedell lists 25 Places Where Culinary Professionals Work including: airlines, hotels, hospitals, spas, resorts, and military bases. Young bloggers and writers offer their insight, too. Thirteen year old Dominick Cura, owner of the website Eternally Gluten Free and writer of a cookbook was first diagnosed with Celiac disease when she was nine years old. She turned around and focused on making good food that wouldn't make her sick and helping others like her. Michael Prados, age 12, is a food blogger and attended the first White House Kids' State Dinner.

The book includes fun, little-known facts about food: did you know that almonds, cashews and pistachios are not nuts, they are really seeds? Did you know that the tomato is defined in botany as a berry?

Recipes are included as well. There is a delightful recipe for an easy potato soup. The five "mother" sauces are covered, too. Any chef (or cook) will have to master: Hollandaise, Veloute, Tomato, Bechemel and Espagnole to command a kitchen.

A goldmine of information is found in "Resources for Chefs and Cooks," cooking terms are defined in the glossary, helpful cooking websites and a bibliography of articles and books will keep young culinary wanna-bes busy for a long time.

If you know a young foodie (Koodie), you will want her/him to read this book. Young cooks everywhere are using You Tube to deliver cooking how-to videos to their followers. Sharing sites are making it possible for young koodies to start their careers as children.

Highly, highly recommended age 8-up. This is a must-have.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Beach Read Pick: When In Doubt, Add Butter

When In Doubt, Add Butter
by Beth Harbison
St. Martin’s Press
2012
338 pages

Wonderfully delicious, seductively decadent, and fantastically scintillating, When In Doubt, Add Butter is Beth Harbison at her comic best. This is the perfect beach read for women who have a passion for romance and food! For all of us who have thought about following our dreams for a career path, Gemma is our unlikely hero. Just when she's given up on romance, love heroically finds her.

Gemma is a private chef for a handful of wealthy New York clients. Her cooking style varies according to each client's weird food issues. From the mother who seems to be "allergic" to everything that tastes good to a scary and private Russian mob don, Gemma seeks to please each palate. One of her favorite clients is Mr. Tuesday, a shadowy figure she's never met but she visits his apartment every Tuesday and cooks a meal for him, which she leaves in the refrigerator with notes on how to prepare everything.

Life is not easy when you're trying to please everyone. When relationships falter and marriages crumble, Gemma's jobs start to disappear. What will she do if she can't pick up more work? At age 37 with no savings account and no other training, Gemma's in a fix.

A strange card reading tells her fortune and Gemma learns the man she's been searching for has been right there all along. Gemma realizes that When In Doubt, Add Butter is in reality her life mantra.

Highly, highly recommended and addictive for anyone who loves a breezy, romantic read. Grades 9-up. Sex, mature themes.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.