A review by mrskatiefitz
Kitchen Chaos, Volume 1 by Deborah A. Levine, Jillellyn Riley
4.0
Liza and Frankie have been best friends for years, and they always work on major school projects together. When their social studies teacher requires that the class work in groups of three for an assignment about immigration, Frankie begins strategizing to partner with the classmate who is least likely to interfere with her and Liza's ideas. Before she can make her choice, however, Liza announces that she has invited new girl Lillian to complete their trio. Despite Frankie's reservations, the three girls come up with a great idea for their project: taking a celebrity chef's cooking class about the origins of American cuisine and then reporting on it. Unfortunately, they can't take the class without adult supervision. While only one parent is required to sign up, a series of mis-communications results in all three girls' mothers taking the class. The moms mean well, but between Liza's mom's babysitting troubles, Frankie's mom's culinary ineptitude, and Lillian's mother's snobbery against non-Chinese cooking, the girls are in for a series of minor crises on their road to an A.
As cooking-themed novels for this age group go, this is one of the best. The girls are not precociously talented chefs; they are just normal kids working toward a good grade. The celebrity chef aspect might be a little bit unbelievable - especially since all three girl/mom pairs get into the class despite its supposed popularity - but otherwise, it's much more realistic than novels where kids have amazing natural talent in the kitchen, and it includes a lot of great friendship and family situations that tween girls love to read about.
This book does its best to include a diverse cast. Liza's mother is black, Frankie is from a large Italian family, and Lillian's parents are Chinese immigrants. Unfortunately, Frankie's family is stereotypically loud and boisterous, while Lillian's mother is stereotypically cold and judgmental. (She reminded me a lot of Lane's mother on Gilmore Girls, or Claudia's mom in The Baby-sitters Club series, both of whom are stern Asian women.) It would have been nice to see the mothers' characters fleshed out a bit more, especially since their involvement in the class is such an important part of the story. The girls themselves are more three-dimensional, and their struggles to work together as a group of three when Liza and Frankie are such good friends are painfully true to life, and the real driving force of the book.
Though no information is yet available on a second book, it does appear that Saturday Cooking Club is going to be a series. It's hard to imagine how the cooking club will continue after everything comes to such a tidy resolution in this book, but it seems likely that if it comes to fruition the series will appeal strongly to kids who love the Mother/Daughter Book Club series. It also makes a nice read-alike for the Darlings books by Melissa Kantor, which also focus on a trio of tween friends. All in all, this is another success for the Aladdin Mix imprint.
As cooking-themed novels for this age group go, this is one of the best. The girls are not precociously talented chefs; they are just normal kids working toward a good grade. The celebrity chef aspect might be a little bit unbelievable - especially since all three girl/mom pairs get into the class despite its supposed popularity - but otherwise, it's much more realistic than novels where kids have amazing natural talent in the kitchen, and it includes a lot of great friendship and family situations that tween girls love to read about.
This book does its best to include a diverse cast. Liza's mother is black, Frankie is from a large Italian family, and Lillian's parents are Chinese immigrants. Unfortunately, Frankie's family is stereotypically loud and boisterous, while Lillian's mother is stereotypically cold and judgmental. (She reminded me a lot of Lane's mother on Gilmore Girls, or Claudia's mom in The Baby-sitters Club series, both of whom are stern Asian women.) It would have been nice to see the mothers' characters fleshed out a bit more, especially since their involvement in the class is such an important part of the story. The girls themselves are more three-dimensional, and their struggles to work together as a group of three when Liza and Frankie are such good friends are painfully true to life, and the real driving force of the book.
Though no information is yet available on a second book, it does appear that Saturday Cooking Club is going to be a series. It's hard to imagine how the cooking club will continue after everything comes to such a tidy resolution in this book, but it seems likely that if it comes to fruition the series will appeal strongly to kids who love the Mother/Daughter Book Club series. It also makes a nice read-alike for the Darlings books by Melissa Kantor, which also focus on a trio of tween friends. All in all, this is another success for the Aladdin Mix imprint.