A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

Fourteen-year-old Mona isn't like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can't control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter named Bob, and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt's bakery making gingerbread men dance and biscuits go fluffy.

But Mona's life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona's city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. Worse, the city inquisitor accuses her of the murder, and she's not sure why. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona's worries…

Winner of the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Young Adult Book, this quirky, charming, and funny fantasy explores what happens when a girl who was never considered 'strong' — including by herself — is forced to be the one to save the day.