The Crepe Makers' Bond

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The Crepe Makers' Bond Pub. Date: 4/1/2011 Publisher: Milkweed Editions

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Overview

Ariel is the head chef in her family kitchen. Cucumber salads, fettuccine carbonara, fish tacos, and peanut butter pie are just a few of the dishes she crafts when she’s feeling frustrated by the world. And it’s turning into a frustrating year. Ariel, Nicki, and Mattie have been inseparable friends since they were little kids, but now Mattie’s mom has decided to move away. It’s the girls’ last year in middle school, and they can’t fathom being separated. The friends concoct a plan that will keep Mattie in the Bay area — she’ll move in with Ariel and her family. But before you can say "bff," the party is over. Everything Mattie does gets on Ariel’s nerves, and it’s not long before the girls are avoiding each other. This was supposed to be their best year ever, but some painful lessons are threatening to tear their friendship apart. Can the girls scramble to make things right before the bond crumbles?

Editorial Reviews

VOYA

Ariel prepares for a great eighth grade year with her two best friends, Nicki and M, but the year starts off rocky. Nicki is obviously hiding something, and M learns that her family will be moving out of town. Ariel immerses herself in the kitchen, cooking and baking her way through her emotions until she comes up with an idea: convince all parents involved to let M live with Ariel's family for the rest of the school year. The girls work their charm, all parents agree, and Ariel could not be happier—until she and M get into a fight. Ariel wonders if she should stick to concocting delicious meals instead of schemes with her friends. The novel starts with the cliched alarm clock blaring on the morning of the first day of school and quickly lapses into a flashback about why Ariel is so tired instead of showing this scene in real time. Additional climactic events are told in flashbacks, or are summarized in quick information dumps, instead of shown in fully fleshed-out scenes that include dialog and emotions, like when Nicki confesses her secret and when M and Ariel make up. The interspersed recipes are well-written in Ariel's voice and will make the reader hungry, and the girls' friendships feel true, as do their complications. Younger teen fans of other foodie novels such as Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser (Greenwillow, 2008/VOYA February 2009) and Hot Lunch by Alex Bradley (Dutton, 2007) will appreciate this novel. Reviewer: Deena Lipomi

Children's Literature

When a minor earthquake hits the day before eighth grade, Ariel wonders if it is a sign warning her of the trouble she and her friends, M and Nicki, will encounter over the year. Sure enough, not long after school begins in September, M learns that she and her mother will be moving to another city. Not wanting their friend to leave, Ariel and Nicki come up with a plan for M to live with Ariel, at least through eighth grade. The tricky part, they realize, will be convincing all of their parents. When their parents finally agree, the girls are thrilled. It does not take long, however, before both M and Ariel realize that their relationship is changing. Ariel tries to make M feel at ease with her family, but M just does not understand all the family jokes and traditions. When Ariel's dad suggests that M star in his company television ad, Ariel begins to feel jealous, and she is confused by these feelings. In addition, Ariel is puzzled by her friend Nicki, who does not want to share a secret with M and Ariel. Throughout the story, Ariel uses her love of cooking to help her cope with her feelings. Each chapter includes a recipe that Ariel prepares. The story is often mundane. There are sections of text in which very little happens. In the end, the girls' salvage their relationships, but it is so predictable that some readers may be disappointed. Ariel's cooking is a nice character trait, but the use of recipes throughout the novel feels more like an unrelated subplot rather than an element of cohesiveness. Readers interested in cooking will enjoy the appendices included: recipe index, cooking tips, favorite foodie words, and more. Reviewer: Jody Little

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Kirkus Reviews

Funny, self-aware 14-year-old Ariel "find[s] making fantastic food gives me sanity" in this highly entertaining and multilayered sequel to Discovering Pig Magic (2008). She lives in Alameda, Calif. (a suburb of San Francisco), in a close-knit family whose house is "generally kind of messy, usually loud, and frequently crowded." Ariel is grateful to face the first day of eighth grade with her two best friends, M and Nicki, and her "Too Cool for School Cucumber Salad," but nothing can prepare her for how the day unfolds—at the end of it, M calls sobbing with the news that she and her recovering agoraphobic mother may be moving 360 miles north to Crescent City, Calif. The girls come up with a plan that goes dramatically awry. Crabtree is particularly adept at capturing the emotional life of teens. The ease with which she weaves Ariel's clear (and fabulous) recipes and passion for cooking into this story about how even close friends can change unexpectedly is equally impressive. Though very much a work of fiction, it's also an inspiring introduction into how a young chef thinks, and it does in fact include interesting and helpful cooking tips. Creative and refreshing like a good soufflé, this perceptive, heartfelt narrative nevertheless has real meat on its bones. (recipe index, glossary, selected sources) (Fiction. 10-14)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781571316950
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Publication date: 4/1/2011
Pages: 264
Sales rank: 1,191,698
Age range: 9 - 13 Years
Product dimensions: 5.20 (w) x 7.90 (h) x 0.70 (d)

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