Pie by Sarah Weeks

As a fan of Sarah Weeks I was not surprised that I totally enjoed PIE.  With delicious recipes starting each chapter, it's humor in the cat inheriting the pie crust recipe, mystery surrounding said inheritance, friendship, romance (kiddie romance), and relationships it was quite a full yet quick read.  I am on my way to set up a display right now with PIE, THE TEASHOP GIRLS and THE SECRET INGREDIENT by Laura Schaefer (see reviews below) and another new book THE CASE OF THE MISSING DEED by Ellen Schwartz.  For fans of mysteries, cooking or friendship stories PIE is a terrific book.

The Case of the Missing Deed by Ellen Schwartz

For their annual summer vacation, five cousins visit their grandparents in a cottage on an island in British Columbia. This summer is different though. Their grandfather has died and a mining company is buying up property all over the island and their grandmother can't remember where the deed to the house is hidden. If it's not found she will lose the cottage. Promising to help grandma locate the deed the cousins stumble upon one clue after another and realize grandpa has left them exactly what is needed to find the deed. If only they can connect the clues and break a secret code.

Many of the clues are written in grandpas's handwriting on favorite recipes. The author, Ellen Schwartz has shared these recipes with us making The Case of the Missing Deed a delicious mystery. The cousins are all believable characters adding a little of their talents to the mix. The parents and other adults are mostly in the background allowing the kids to figure things out on their own.  This looks to be the first in a series entitled Teaspoon Detectives and I look forward to the next installment.

Recommended for middle grade boys and girls who like mysteries and for fans of books where recipes and cooking is involved such as The Teashop Girls  reviewed here and The Secret Ingredient  reviewed here both by Laura Schaefer.   Read as an ebook arc courtesy of Tundra Books via Netgalley.

Meet Author Laura Schaefer

It is my pleasure to introduce Laura Schaefer, author of The Teashop Girls and the newly released sequel, The Secret Ingredient.

For readers who don't know you please tell us a little about yourself.

I live in Madison, Wisconsin and I began writing full-time after I graduated from college here in 2001. When I was in school, I wrote book reviews for my school paper and had the chance to interview several authors. It was a world I knew I wanted to join. I initially thought I might be an editor, but it turned out that freelance writing suited me, so I stuck with it.

As I found my niche, I fell in love with it. I began as a curriculum writer, which means I wrote educational content such as small lessons, informational pieces for reading comprehension practice, and test questions. When I turned to fiction, it was a natural fit for me to write for middle-grade and young adult readers. I've always been a huge reader myself and the books I read when I was ten or twelve years old are the ones that really stuck with me. It's an honor to write for young readers.

Why did you decide to use blogging and social networking to create awareness about you and your books?

I think social networking is a great way for authors to connect with readers. I've really embraced Twitter and Facebook in the last few years, so when it came time to write a sequel to The Teashop Girls, it made sense to me to incorporate that part of my life into The Secret Ingredient. Annie starts a food blog, which isn't necessarily an easy thing to do. I've only blogged intermittently in the last three years, so I have a lot of respect for anyone who can keep a quality blog going.

Using the Internet in all its glory to connect with readers is such a natural fit for most authors. As a group, we tend to be a bit introverted, so it's nice to have an option to reach out to people that doesn't involve getting on stage.

How much of Annie's personality and life experiences are biographical?

Her personality is more biographical than her life experiences, as I've never worked in a tea shop myself. We do share some things: great friends, an entrepreneurial spirit, and concern for the world around us. Annie is thoughtful and genuine, and I'd like to think I am too. :-) One thing we don't share is hair problems. Annie always fights with her big red curls, and my hair doesn't really give me trouble. It's usually up in a bun and not on my mind at all. That's the beauty of not having to leave the house for work, I suppose!

Did you create and tryout the recipes for the scones in The Secret Ingredient? What is your favorite scone?  What is your favorite tea?

I did! My favorite scone in the book is the last recipe, which involves apples and toffee (but don't flip ahead...they're all good!). My tea tastes have really been evolving lately, so it's harder and harder to pick a favorite. For a while, it was English Breakfast tea, which is delicious and classic. Then I really loved this caramel rooibos. Next up, I went through a matcha phase where I made a lot of frappes with blended milk, ice, matcha, and sugar (the recipe is in the new book). Now I'm drinking Pu'erh, which is an earthy tea from China that is good for heart health. I recommend all of these.

I think the Steeping Leaf scone blog being real is brilliant.  How did you come up with that idea?

Actually, the blog address given in the book just directs back to my website in real life. ;-) But I did have a lot of fun writing the blog entries in the book. I might have Annie or Genna "guest blog" on www.teashopgirls.com one of these days. Perhaps they could answer questions from readers. That would be fun.

What are you reading now?

I just finished an advance review copy of Lauren Oliver's lovely middle grade novel LIESL & PO and I'm starting CLEOPATRA CONFESSES by Carolyn Meyer next.

Who was your favorite author as a tween?

As a young tween, I loved The Babysitters Club books and the Anastasia Krupnik books by Lois Lowry. As for stand-alone titles, I adored A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (I've been meaning to reread that, in fact).

Have you thought about writing in another genre and if yes which one?

Yes. It's fun to try new things. I'm working on a book now for older teen readers, and I'm also working on some non-fiction titles for 8-12 year-olds. They're a series of travel guidebooks for kids called Planet Explorers. I just finished a guide to Chicago and one to Walt Disney World...so fun to work on! They will exist as ebooks only.

Will we see Annie, her grandmother and friends in another book?

I think so! I'm not working on a third book just yet, but it would be great fun to see where another story could take them. :-)


Wow!  Thank you so much for visiting my blog Laura :)


If you'd like to purchase either book on Amazon.com click on the title here : The Teashop Girls or The Secret Ingredient.  


If you'd like to read my reviews of the books you can click here for The TeaShop Girls and click here for The Secret Ingredient.


Here's the link for  The Teashop Girls website for lots more fun! http://teashopgirls.webnode.com/ 

The Secret Ingredient by Laura Schaefer

     Warning: reading this book will make you crave tea and scones.  Not that that is a bad thing!  Annie and her friends are back after helping to save The Steeping Leaf teashop in The Teashop Girls reviewed here.  In The Secret Ingredient Annie is attempting to create an original scone recipe and at the same time publish a food blog while gathering a following to win an entry into a contest.  Annie shares her recipes with us her along with her blog posts.  Annie is also dealing with understanding the love/hate relationship with Zach especially after he kisses her.
      Middle grade girls will relate to Annie and the secondary characters. They will enjoy her friends and how they help her and support her.  They'll laugh at the awkwardness between her and Zach.  They'll love the relationship between Annie and her grandmother which is so loving and caring.   They may be inspired to start a blog or even to bake scones and try new teas.  
     The illustrations are charming and will add to the desire to taste a scone or drink chai latte (artwork was not final).  While not absolutely necessary to read The Teashop Girls first I would suggest to do so.  Recommended for fans of that book, contemporary fiction and friendship stories and LITTLE BLOG ON THE PRAIRIE by Cathleen Davitt Bell.  Read as an ebook arc courtesy of Simon and Schuster.  The Secret Ingredient will be available June 28, 2011 and on June 29 the author, Laura Schaefer will be stopping by this blog so come on back!
**Note:Received the book and read some of it again.  This time got to see the final illustrations and photos added to the blog posts and recipes.  Yummy.  And guess what? Used the vegetable sushi recipe for lunch :) Next up?  One of those tea frappes.

The Secret of Rover by Rachel Wildavsky

     Katie and David are twins and live with their parents in a suburb of Washington, D.C.  After struggling for many years financially their parents (and uncle) invent Rover for the U.S. government and since then things have been much better.  Their parents are now off to Katkajan to adopt a baby girl while Katie and David stay behind with the newly hired nanny.  However, it turns out that Katkajan is in a political mess, the nanny is not a nanny and the parents and baby sister have been kidnapped.  Katie and David realize only their reclusive uncle can help them and so they venture on their own to Vermont to find him.
     This in an exiting adventure though the pacing is a little slow. It's a page turner nonetheless.  Katie and David, like most siblings argue and bicker a lot but they work well together.  Bouncing ideas off each other or just winging it they manage to reach their uncle on a remote mountain in Vermont.  Uncle Alex is a great character.  (I'd love to hear his story, but I digress). But can he help them?  Can they save their parents and bring them and their new baby sister home?  And what is Rover anyway?  You'll have to read this book to find the answers.
     Recommended for readers who enjoyed Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series),  Mission Unstoppable (Genius Files series), (for my review click here) or who enjoy adventure and mysteries with a little sci-fi thrown in.  Read as an ebook arc courtesy of Amulet Books via Netgalley.  The Secret of Rover will be published March 1, 2011.

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Words in the Dust takes place in a small village in Afghanistan and shows us the day to day life through the eyes of a young girl named Zulaikha.  Zulaikha was born with a cleft lip and hides behind her shawl.  She shares the household chores with her older sister Zeynab and her father's second wife and helps to care for her younger brothers while her older brother works with their father.  At the baazar she meets an old woman who knew her late mother and the woman teaches her to read and write in secret.  American soldiers help Zulaikha have surgery to fix her face soon after her sister is married off to a much older man.

So much of Afghani life is described in this book.  We learn about the call to prayer at dawn, bargaining at the bazaar, wedding rituals, daily chores and family dynamics.  The writing is beautiful and I could barely put the book down. It is hard for most Americans to imagine girls not being allowed to go to school, not meeting their new spouse until the wedding and women being treated as subserviant to men. As Zulaikha's tells her story we can see she is a strong, brave and loving girl who's one wish in life is to be normal.  As I read this book I anticipated something awful  happening to her as visions of The Kite Runner floated in my head.  I breathed a sigh of relief with the success of her surgery and then cried as Zeynab's story unfolded the way it did. 

The author, Trent Reedy spent time in the army on a peacekeeping mission and his repect and admiration of the people of Afghanistan shines through.  His "author's note" helped me understand how he came to write this story and to portray the characters as well as he did.  The glossary was very helpful and I used it often.  This is a fascinating piece of fiction and I recommend it highly to fourth graders and up and to those who enjoyed  A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park and/or Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai.

The Genius Files : Mission Unstoppable by Dan Gutman

In THE GENIUS FILES : MISSION UNSTOPPABLE by Dan Gutman Coke and Pepsi are almost 13 year-old twins. They have scored extremely high on standardized tests and have been recruited into a secret organization of genius children whose mission is to save the world. Their family is traveling across the U.S.A. from California to Washington D.C. with plans on visiting tourist attractions along the way. Coke and Pepsi receive and solve codes and ciphers and save themselves from getting hurt by people who apparently are against The Genius Files. This book is filled with excitement and adventure and reminds me of STORMBREAKER by Anthony Horowitz. What makes it even better is Dan Gutman's sense of humor and the fact that he made this book interactive. Readers are encouraged to follow the trip with mapquest, google maps or an atlas. Gutman is willing to wait for the reader to look up trivia facts if they don't believe him. As a parent it is hard to believe that their parents can be so naive. However it is easy to believe that Coke and Pepsi can handle themselves in no matter what situation they fall in due in part to Gutman's convincing writing. This is a fun read and kids will gobble it up and clamor for Part 2. I read it as an e-book arc from netgalley and it will be published in early 2011.

The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell

Christina's parents are scientists but now she lives alone with her father. Her mother was blown up in a science experiment a few years before. Christina's father keeps her safe and isolated as he is worried about her winding up in the orphanage next door. One day Taft, an orphan boy befriends Christina and convinces Christina to find the secret tunnel that will help him escape from the orphanage where the children are starved and abused. Soon, she and Taft embark on a journey filled with mystery, crazy scientists and flying planes.