Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes

by Lisa Greenwald

Overview

When a blizzard threatens to ruin Valentine’s Day, three seventh-grade friends make and distribute fortune cookies to their lonely neighbors—and confront the secrets they’ve been keeping from one another.
Confident Kate doesn’t notice much but the latest gossip, and shy Georgia can’t say out loud what’s always on her mind. They’re joined by observant, careful Olivia, whose epic, single-minded crush on PBJ (real name: Phillip Becker-Jacobs) is starting to frustrate them. Using fortune cookies that mysteriously always seem to speak directly to the person who opens them, the three girls try to work together to bring some love to their building while reminding each other why they’re such good friends to begin with.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613120132
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	12/31/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	650L (what's this?)
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Lisa Greenwald is the author of Reel Life Starring Us, Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes, the Pink & Green series, and Welcome to Dog Beach. She works in the library at the Birch Wathen Lenox School in Manhattan. She is a graduate of The New School’s MFA program in writing for children and lives in Brooklyn. www.lisagreenwald.com.

Editorial Reviews

In a lighthearted story about the ups and downs of friendship, Greenwald (My Life in Pink & Green) again proves that she has an insightful eye (and pen) when it comes to the minds of tween girls. Three dissimilar but tight-knit seventh graders--nosy Olivia, high-strung Kate, and reserved Georgia--who live on the seventh floor of a Brooklyn apartment building, find themselves trapped and restless on a snowed-in Valentine's Day. They hatch a plan to deliver homemade fortune cookies to their neighbors, hoping to bring some camaraderie to the building. As the day progresses, though, they only succeed in annoying each other. Greenwald alternates among the three girls as narrators, skillfully showing how insignificant frustrations can lead to big meltdowns. The girls' voices are distinct; outgoing Kate, for example, often laments about Olivia's multiyear-obsession with a boy: "he needed to know she had gone off the deep end." All's well that end's well, and the girls not only get closer by the last page but revel in seeing their neighbors do the same. Ages 10–14. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 5–8—As a blizzard bears down on New York City just in time for Valentine's Day, a storm of a different kind is brewing in the apartment building above Chen's Kitchen. Seventh-graders Olivia, Kate, and Georgia are best friends who are struggling to find common ground as their relationship begins to change. Olivia has liked Phillip Becker-Jacobs for two years, and she records everything he does and wears in her Observation Notebook. Kate flits from crush to obsessive crush, and Georgia stays quiet to avoid letting her secrets slip, even to her best friends. An unexpected snow day offers the girls a chance to reconnect by baking "magic" fortune cookies designed to help everyone in their building feel loved. As they deliver the treats, they discover many truths: about boys, parents, and one another. Greenwald's second foray into the drama that is seventh grade delivers more than is implied by its saccharine title. The lives of the well-formed characters come alive against the backdrop of a New York City building where neighbors are strangers. Fortune-cookie fortunes become the plot's catalyst, as chapters alternate among Olivia, Kate, and Georgia, offering readers varied perspectives on the events. This is a title that mothers and daughters can confidently read together without major blushing.—Colleen S. Banick, Tomlinson Middle School, Fairfield, CT

School Library Journal

Seventh-grade friends Olivia, Georgia and Kate can't wait for Valentine's Day. Olivia hopes that Phillip Becker-Jacobs, the constant subject of her Observation Notebook, will give her a handmade valentine; Kate is convinced her latest crush will ask her out; and Georgia is looking forward to a special dinner at Chen's Kitchen, her family's restaurant. When a blizzard disrupts their Valentine's Day plans, the girls, stuck in their Brooklyn apartment building, try to salvage the day by making fortune cookies in Chen's Kitchen and delivering them to their reclusive neighbors. Olivia, Georgia and Kate hope the treats will spread some cheer and bring everyone together, but as the day progresses, they find their friendship falling apart, and the building feels as lonely as ever. Olivia has always believed there's a bit of magic in Chen's Kitchen's cookies, and that's exactly what the girls need to stop Valentine's Day from being a complete disaster. As told in their alternating voices, Olivia, Georgia and Kate's escapades—filled with nosy parents, pesky siblings and plenty of boy drama—will resonate with young teens. The story is as sweet as the treats the girls dole out. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews