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  • Alice Fleck's Recipes for Disaster

Alice Fleck's Recipes for Disaster

Publication Date
May 03, 2022
Genre / Grade Band
Fiction /  4th − 5th
Language
English
Alice Fleck's Recipes for Disaster

Only 2 copies currently available
Description

When Alice agreed to appear in a reality cooking show with her father, she had no idea she'd find herself in the middle of a mystery! Will Alice and her new friends be able to save the show? A light-hearted and funny middle grade novel for fans of Rebecca Stead and Lynda Mullaly Hunt.

Alice Fleck's father is a culinary historian, and for as long as she can remember, she's been helping him recreate meals from the past -- a hobby she prefers to keep secret from kids her age. But when her father's new girlfriend enters them into a cooking competition at a Victorian festival, Alice finds herself and her hobby thrust into the spotlight.

And that's just the first of many surprises awaiting her. On arriving at the festival, Alice learns that she and her father are actually contestants on Culinary Combat, a new reality TV show hosted by Tom Truffleman, the most famous and fierce judge on TV! And to make matters worse, she begins to suspect that someone is at work behind the scenes, sabotaging the competition. It's up to Alice, with the help of a few new friends, to find the saboteur before the entire competition is ruined, all the while tackling some of the hardest cooking challenges of her life . . . for the whole world to see.

Publication date
May 03, 2022
Genre
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780735269293
Lexile Measure
670
Publisher
Puffin Books
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV028000 - Juvenile Fiction | Mysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories
JUV050000 - Juvenile Fiction | Cooking & Food

Kirkus

Generous portions of yum for fans of mysteries and mille-feuille.

Publishers Weekly

Rising seventh grader Alice Fleck, 12, who has unruly "ginger-colored hair," secretly enjoys being sous-chef to her culinary historian father as they whip up historically accurate, sometimes stomach-churning, recipes. But then her father's "unnecessary" girlfriend, Hana Holmes, announces that she has entered the duo into their favorite cooking show, Culinary Chronicles, "quite possibly the friendliest cooking competition on TV." Alice doesn't want to be on-screen--or around Hana, since the program will be shot at the "week-long Victorian festival" Hana is lecturing at. Things go from sour to downright unsavory when the production team announces that the show has been acquired and transformed into Culinary Combat, evaluated by Tom Truffleman, "the fiercest judge in the world of competitive cooking." As the contestants prepare Victorian dishes such as charlotte russe, suspicious kitchen accidents point to sabotage, and Alice and her new friends, two other children at the festival, must find the perpetrator--especially after Truffleman accuses Alice's father of cheating. Detailing fascinating food history and delectable dishes, Delaney (Clara Voyant) serves a toothsome culinary caper amid a gentle, well-balanced portrait of one preteen's journey toward accepting adaptability and change. Ages 10-14. Agent: Amy Tompkins, Transatlantic Agency. (May)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6--Variety may be the spice of life; but for 12-year-old Alice Fleck, too many changes spell trouble. Alice is not looking forward to middle school, and she isn't very happy about her dad James's new girlfriend, Hana. Things heat up when Alice realizes that her dad and Hana have been planning for them all to attend a Victorian festival where Hana will be lecturing--and that Hana signed Alice and James up to compete on Culinary Capers, a historical cooking show that's filmed there. Alice and her culinary historian dad have been cooking together all her life, but not in front of cameras. Granted, Culinary Capers isn't as intense as most cooking shows; plus, it doesn't even air on a popular station (just the history station), so it's not like anyone will see it. But Alice and James discover there have been some changes to the familiar show. Culinary Capers has become Culinary Combat, complete with a new host, a new network, and a ruthless new judge, Tom Truffleman, who does not like kids. Alice feels alone until she befriends two other kids at the festival, Tavi and Henry, and they decide to figure out who is behind all the "accidents" happening on set. Alongside the mystery plot, Alice's insecurities and family concerns feel authentic, as does her relationship with her father. Alice and her dad are white, and there is diversity among the supporting characters. VERDICT Delaney takes readers on an adventure that feels like a cross between Kids Baking Championship and Scooby Doo in all the best possible ways, along with a few behind-the-scenes glimpses of reality TV and social media. Recommended for fans of cooking shows and sweet family stories.--Heather Webb, Worthington Libs., OH

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Rachelle Delaney
RACHELLE DELANEY is the author of several middle-grade novels, including The Metro Dogs of Moscow, which was a CLA Book of the Year Honor Book, as well as a finalist for the Silver Birch Award and the Red Cedar Award, among others. Its sequel, The Circus Dogs of Prague, was shortlisted for the Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award. The Bonaventure Adventures won BC's Chocolate Lily Award in 2019 and Clara Voyant was a Chocolate Lily Award nominee. Visit her at www.rachelledelaney.com.
Canadian Children's Book Centre
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Best Book 2021