Alice Fleck's Recipes for Disaster

March 15, 2021
Mix one shy tween, one unwelcome new woman in her single dad's life, one Victorian hotel, and one TV cook-off prone to mysterious failures. Shake and bake. Ever since the fifth grade calf's foot jelly incident, Alice has kept her love for cookery on the down low--but all bets are off after she learns that Hana, her food historian dad's girlfriend, has signed him up for a weeklong reality cooking competition ominously christened Culinary Combat. Events conspire to keep Alice on the hop too, as the challenge of facing the show's caustic, terrifying judge while preparing dishes like Victoria sponge cake and charlotte russe on camera--at first as her dad's sous-chef, then alone after he's eliminated for alleged misbehavior--is complicated by a string of malfunctioning appliances and other odd kitchen mishaps...not to mention her own tangled feelings about Hana, who introduces her to the intriguing world of Japanese desserts and is actually pretty cool in other ways. Spooning new friends with surprising talents, savvy detective work (it turns out the show does have a saboteur), and mouthwatering foodie talk (if no actual recipes) into this culinary caper, Delaney dishes up a savory tale that tests her young cuisinier--in the face of change as much as in the kitchen--on the way to a flying finish. Alice and her dad present White; Hana has some Japanese ancestry; and there is diversity in the supporting cast. Generous portions of yum for fans of mysteries and mille-feuille. (Mystery. 10-13)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2021
Grades 5-8 While Alice enjoys cooking with her father, a culinary historian, she finds it unsettling that his new girlfriend has arranged for them to compete as a team on Alice's favorite cooking show, Culinary Chronicles. Another surprise comes after they arrive at a grand country estate for the week of filming: rebranded as Culinary Combat, the show will now be hosted by the notoriously combative Tom Truffleman. The competitive experience is challenging, and Truffleman is demeaning, but Alice finds support from two new friends, Tavi and Henry, a young detective. After suspicious mishaps occur on the set, they join forces to identify the saboteur. Readers who watch competitive cooking shows will enjoy the backstage view, while others will relate to Alice's anxiety about appearing on TV, as well as her reluctance to accept her father's girlfriend. Delaney creates an array of colorful characters and keeps them in play as suspects, but Alice remains in the spotlight, focusing on problems, adapting to changing circumstances, and shifting her preconceived notions. A lively mystery sprinkled with anecdotes from culinary history.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 17, 2021
Rising seventh grader Alice Fleck, 12, who has unruly “ginger-colored hair,” secretly enjoys being sous-chef to her culinary historian father as they whip up historically accurate, sometimes stomach-churning, recipes. But then her father’s “unnecessary” girlfriend, Hana Holmes, announces that she has entered the duo into their favorite cooking show, Culinary Chronicles, “quite possibly the friendliest cooking competition on TV.” Alice doesn’t want to be on-screen—or around Hana, since the program will be shot at the “week-long Victorian festival” Hana is lecturing at. Things go from sour to downright unsavory when the production team announces that the show has been acquired and transformed into Culinary Combat, evaluated by Tom Truffleman, “the fiercest judge in the world of competitive cooking.” As the contestants prepare Victorian dishes such as charlotte russe, suspicious kitchen accidents point to sabotage, and Alice and her new friends, two other children at the festival, must find the perpetrator—especially after Truffleman accuses Alice’s father of cheating. Detailing fascinating food history and delectable dishes, Delaney (Clara Voyant) serves a toothsome culinary caper amid a gentle, well-balanced portrait of one preteen’s journey toward accepting adaptability and change. Ages 10–14. Agent: Amy Tompkins, Transatlantic Agency.