Original Recipe

by Jessica Young, Jessica Secheret (Illustrator)

Overview

Finley's best friend Henry is about to turn nine, and Finley has a major problem:she has no idea what to give him for his birthday. He already owns all of her best creations! The school cook-off might be the perfect solution. The grand prize is a year's worth of Flying Pie Pizza — Henry's favorite. But coming up with something original and tasty is harder than it looks. As one crazy concoction leads to another, Finley discovers that cooking is just like the rest of life— things don't always turn out as planned and friendship is the real prize.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479558780
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	01/01/2015
Series:	Finley Flowers
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,247,503
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 2.10(d)
Lexile:	560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jessica Young grew up inOntario, Canada. The same things make her happy now as when she was a kid: dancing, painting, music, digging in the dirt, picnics, reading, and writing. Like Finley Flowers, Jessica loves making stuff. When she was little, she wanted to be a tap-dancing flight attendant/veterinarian, but she's changed her mind! Jessica currently lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee.

Jessica was born on a spring day in 1978 in a small French town. When she was very young she had strange buddies that were always with her: felt pens, colored pencils, brushes and paint. After several years spent in various agencies of architecture, she decided to give up squares, rulers, and compasses and put her body, heart, and soul into what she always loved—putting her own imagination on paper. She’s currently residing at her studio in Paris, drawing for magazines and children’s books in France and abroad.

Table of Contents

Big news — fin-spiration — Taste test — Secret recipe — Spin to win — Dinner in a glass — Ka-pow! — Bugs on a log — Thirst for first — Sweet success — Oh, brother — Birthday boy.

Interviews

Fun, quirky stories for creative readers interested in arts and crafts. Strong female protagonist. Strong cross-gender friendship and family relationships. Teaches creativity, problem-solving, and thinking outside the box. Curriculum tie-in: logical progression, experimentation, food pyramid.

Editorial Reviews

10/27/2014
Third-grader Finley Flowers stars in this entertaining series opener, in which she is trying to win her school’s cook-off competition. Young’s story, told in 12 chapters, focuses on Finley and her best friend Henry as they experiment with a slew of culinary mashups. Readers will get a kick out of considering the... interesting concoctions Finley and Henry whip up—strawberry-garlic burritos or salad dressing soup, anyone? Secheret gives the characters oversize heads and dainty, doll-like features in her full-color spot illustrations, helping highlight their personalities. As friendship and family dilemmas spike the plot, Young avoids handing easy victories to her determined and undeniably creative heroine. A recipe for Finley’s PB&J Spaghetti is included (hot sauce makes it “KAPOW-erful”), but most of her creations are, blessedly, left to readers’ imaginations. Ages 6–8. Author’s agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agency: Bright Agency. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-11-18
The first in a series about craft-loving Finley Flowers and her best friend, Henry. Henry is about to turn 9, and she wants to find the perfect present for him. When she finds out that the school's fundraiser is a cook-off and the prize is a whole year's worth of pizza, she just knows that she and Henry will come up with the best recipe and win the best birthday present ever. The problem is that though Finley doesn't know how to cook, she does not want to read recipes, listen to Henry's ideas or get ideas from cooking shows. Everything she makes, from pepperoni parfaits to smoked-salmon smoothies, is inedible. Henry becomes frustrated as Finley ignores his suggestions, and for the first time ever, these friends get into a fight. Young creates memorable characters in Henry and Finley, but Finley's rivalry with classmate Olivia is given too little back story to satisfy. Moreover, Finley's plays on her own name ("Fin-spiration," "Fin-credible," "in-Fin-ite," etc.) become wearing. Nevertheless, young cooks who are comfortable with chapter books will identify with Finley's energy and may even want to try her recipe for "PB&J Pasta." Despite bumps, a promising-enough start. (Fiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews

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