Summary:
Linda's life is nearly perfect. She lives in Arizona with her aunt, working in a family restaurant, and cooking delicious food. She is comfortable in the kitchen and allows her emotions to come out through the preparation of fresh, good food. Unfortunately, Linda's aunt is sick and has made arrangements for Linda to move to Pittsburgh with her Aunt Pat and a very large family. Aunt Pat is the star of a local TV show called "Cooking from Cans" and fancies herself as the queen of the kitchen, which clashes with Linda's love of cooking. Linda attempts to do everything she can to find her new place within the hectic new life she has been thrust into, including sneaking off to cook elsewhere. Unfortunately, Linda accidentally threatens Aunt Pat's TV show and everything just seems to be falling apart. How will Linda help her new family, realize that she isn't going to get out of this new life, and survive her new school?
My thoughts:
Overall this is a fairly predictable plot that has been done several times within tween literature. It's typical teen tries to fit into a new environment thing. What really makes this book special is the food. Kids that have any interest in cooking will "eat" this book up. The process of making food, spices involved in various recipes, and the several new tastes that Linda experiences are richly described. There is enough in here that an experimental chef may be interested in attempting to cook dinner. The little blog posts with "what are you cooking" type things were cute. I also liked the general argument that fresh food tends to be better food.
Linda's life is nearly perfect. She lives in Arizona with her aunt, working in a family restaurant, and cooking delicious food. She is comfortable in the kitchen and allows her emotions to come out through the preparation of fresh, good food. Unfortunately, Linda's aunt is sick and has made arrangements for Linda to move to Pittsburgh with her Aunt Pat and a very large family. Aunt Pat is the star of a local TV show called "Cooking from Cans" and fancies herself as the queen of the kitchen, which clashes with Linda's love of cooking. Linda attempts to do everything she can to find her new place within the hectic new life she has been thrust into, including sneaking off to cook elsewhere. Unfortunately, Linda accidentally threatens Aunt Pat's TV show and everything just seems to be falling apart. How will Linda help her new family, realize that she isn't going to get out of this new life, and survive her new school?
My thoughts:
Overall this is a fairly predictable plot that has been done several times within tween literature. It's typical teen tries to fit into a new environment thing. What really makes this book special is the food. Kids that have any interest in cooking will "eat" this book up. The process of making food, spices involved in various recipes, and the several new tastes that Linda experiences are richly described. There is enough in here that an experimental chef may be interested in attempting to cook dinner. The little blog posts with "what are you cooking" type things were cute. I also liked the general argument that fresh food tends to be better food.
