Eleven-year-old Mimi Mackson comes from a big and accomplished Indian American family. It's easy to feel invisible in such an impressive family, so Mimi plans to win a contest at the new bakery in town to start herself on the path to becoming a celebrity chef like her culinary idol, Puffy Fay. But when Mimi's food writer dad returns from a business trip, he's mysteriously lost his highly honed sense of taste. Without his help, Mimi will never be able to bake something impressive enough to propel her to gastronomic fame.
Drawn into the woods behind her house by a strangely familiar song, Mimi meets Vik, a boy who brings her to parts of the forest she's never seen. Together they discover exotic ingredients and bake them into delectable and enchanting treats. But as her dad acts stranger every day, and her siblings' romantic entanglements cause trouble in their town, Mimi begins to wonder whether the ingredients are somehow the cause of it all. She needs to use her skills, deductive and epicurean, to uncover what's happened. In the process, she learns that in life, as in baking, not everything is sweet. This contemporary-fantasy retelling of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is full of wonder, mystery, and sweet treats.
"This delightful and delicious spin on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream flows beautifully into a sensitive and thoughtful novel that addresses family dynamics and self-confidence alongside mouth-watering descriptions of food. Readers will relate to Mimi's attempts to stand out and find her place and will be thrilled by the magical baking." — Kristy Pasquariello, School Library Journal
Recommended Age | 9 - 12 |
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Author | Rajani LaRocca |
ISBN | 1499808887 |
Publication Date | Jun 11, 2019 |
Publisher | Yellow Jacket |
Language | English |