Tag baking

Scoop McLaren: Waves of Mystery / The Fabulous Cakes of Zinnia Jakes: The Tumbling Tortoises

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Here are two recent fiction titles from New Frontier Publishing – thanks for sending …

Scoop McLaren: Waves of Mystery
Helen Castles

Scoop McLaren, editor of her very own online newspaper Click and her best friend and roving reporter Evie return for a second mystery to solve. The newspaper has now gone national and as the story opens Scoop is playing host to young surfing ace Fletcher Stein who has set his sights on winning Higgity Harbour’s big surfing competition.

However as the semi-final approaches things start to happen that give Scoop, the book’s narrator, cause for concern: could somebody be attempting to sabotage Fletcher’s chances? Right away the two girls are on the case but their sleuthing has to be kept under the radar as Evie’s policeman dad immediately tells them to leave the detective work to the police.

It’s not long before one suspect is identified; but how many people are involved in trying to stop Fletcher even reaching the final let alone winning the whole event. And is a curse part of the problem?

However, reach the final he does but things then get even weirder as people start disappearing …

With lots of twists and turns, the fast paced plot shows how Scoop uses her instincts, intelligence and her attention to detail, to get to the bottom of things.

An enjoyable tale for older readers at the heart of which is friendship and loyalty.

Another sequel, this time for slightly younger readers is:

The Fabulous Cakes of Zinnia Jakes: The Tumbling Tortoises
Brenda Gurr

Zoe is excited to hear that with her Galapagos tortoise cupcakes idea she has won the Wildside Zoo’s competition and is now the official baker for the zoo’s endangered animals campaign.

However when she hears that her entire class has been invited to the launch event and that class captain Polly is to report on it, she realises that it’s going to be an enormous challenge to do the extra research she wants to make the most realistic-looking cakes possible and deliver them to the venue while ensuring that her identity as the popular cake creator Zinnia Jakes is kept under wraps.

Can Zoe possibly pull it off? Perhaps, with the assistance of her musical Aunty Jam and of course, best friend Addie.

Another action-packed narrative that is lots of fun and likely to tickle the taste buds of young solo readers.

The Snugglewump / Pearla and her Unpredictably Perfect Day

jillrbennett 1 Comment

The Snugglewump
Lou Treleaven and Kate Chappell
Maverick Arts Publishing
Molly has a host of toys and sitting side-by side awaiting her arrival one day, each claims to have pride of place in her affections. There’s Ted, an antique doll, Alien, Robot and Action Andy …

all strutting their stuff so to speak. It’s no wonder that Snugglewump lies forgotten on the floor feeling less than confident about his lot. But then, having seen and heard the others showing off, it ups and snugglewumps away through the catflap and off down the road.
Thanks to a free ride on a postman’s shoe, it ends up spending the night, damp and virtually shapeless contemplating the possibilities offered by having limbs and a countenance, or batteries, and generally rueing its lot.
Is it Snugglewump’s fate to be cast so it thinks, into the dump or could there perhaps be an alternative ending for this brightly coloured, albeit amorphous thing which, thanks to a couple of pigeons is, as the sun rises, hanging across the branch of a tree in the park?

Told through Lou Treleaven’s jaunty rhyming text with its fun descriptive phrases, and Kate Chappell’s beautifully expressive, quirky illustrations (she even manages to imbue that Snugglewump with a personality) this is great fun to share with young listeners either at home or in an early years setting.

Pearla and her Unpredictably Perfect Day
Rochel Lieberman and Lloyd Jones
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Ten year old Pearla likes nothing better on Sundays than to help her father in his bakery. She’s something of an expert herself, cooking up perfect cupcakes and cookies that people come from far and wide to buy.
One Sunday however, having so she thinks whisked up the usual perfect mix for her cookies and cupcakes, and put them into the oven to bake, she realises that she’s left out a vital ingredient. Disaster for one used to a perfect baking outcome.

But then as she paces up and down, Pearla starts out on what is to be a huge learning curve: “I’m a person, People are not perfect. I did my best. I know I will be helped with the rest,” she tells herself.
Out come the far from perfect confections some time later and rather than throwing the whole lot in the bin, Pearla decides to sell them at half-price.
What happens thereafter is a big surprise for the girl and after the odd sales setback, every single item is sold. Thank goodness Pearla managed to stay calm and turn her mistake into something positive. Even more important she learned the crucial life-lesson: that mistakes are a vital part of the learning process; something all teachers worth their salt would agree with, and that all youngsters need to take on board early on in their education. That way lies success.
Full of important and empowering lessons. Written by a speech and language specialist, this is a book to share with all young learners, especially those who, for whatever reason, are averse to risk-taking. Lloyd Jones’ illustrations add gentle humour to Pearla’s plight.

I’ve signed the charter  

The Doughnut of Doom

jillrbennett Leave a comment

%0A

The Doughnut of Doom
Elys Dolan
Nosy Crow
Confronted with a cover like that of this doom-fuelled tale what is one to do? Suck it and see, or run away screaming?  This reviewer did the former, first stop the front endpapers over which I spent a fair bit of time chuckling and chortling at the multitude of visual and verbal foodie fun puns.
Now on to the main story: we’re in the office of (among others) trainee reporter, Nancy McNutty (her name is significant in the whole saga) who is endeavouring to get her first big break – a tricky thing with a boss like Big Cheese, so she tells us. Yes, Nancy is our story-teller here and she’s convinced there’s something fishy afoot at Lemon Labs. Now this isn’t a shot in the dark; she has a mole on the inside. Her boss however, has other ideas – of a rather insulting kind you”ll surely agree.

%0A

But when the phone rings and it’s Nancy’s Lemon Lab ‘sauce’ on the other end, she hot foots it straight over there, only to learn that disaster had already struck …

%0A

panic has set in and rumours abound. In a flash, Nancy has hitched a lift and is hot on the trail of the ‘monster’ and pretty soon has tracked him down – kind of!

%0A

The fire service appears on the scene but almost in an instant the fire fighters meet their doom. Next come the military …

%0A

Ditto yes, even the green ones are guzzled.
An announcement is made – and hastily retracted or rather altered almost before it’s uttered to “It’s unstoppable! We’re out of options! Evacuate the city! PANIC!”
And that’s when Nancy makes a crucial, possibly life-changing decision, and after a consultation with Prof. Nutcase, decides to ‘stop reporting the action and be a part of it.’ Will the doughnut meet its demise, or will Nancy?
I’m not going to spoil the finale by telling you what happens thereafter; but it involves a challenge, some chomping and …

%0A

but that’s not quite the end of everything and I’m happy to report that Nancy hits the headlines well and truly … There is just SO much crammed into this amazing tale that a short review with a few photos just cannot do it justice: you need to get out there, seize – or preferably buy – a copy for yourself and immerse yourself within. I’ll guarantee it will be some considerable time before you emerge; and one helping will definitely NOT be enough.

WNDB_Button localbookshops_NameImage-2