A Long Line of Cakes

July 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-The Cakes are a family of itinerant bakers, always have been; always will be. They travel from place to place to set up their bakery, then pack up to head to the next locale that needs them. All that moving is getting to 11-year-old Emma Alabama Lane Cake. She's the only daughter in the Cake clan. Her five spirited brothers have each other and an easier time making friends in all the new places than Emma, who is more circumspect. When the family rolls into Halleluia, MS, at midnight, Emma feels that there's something special about the town. Though she longs for a friend, she just can't bear the thought of adding another person to her "friend atlas," only to roll it up to leave yet again. That possible new friend happens to be Ruby Lavender. Readers need not be familiar with any of the "Aurora County" novels to fall in love with the Cakes. The residents are just as quirky, with characters like Parting Shotz and a tutu-wearing dog named Eudora Welty. There's a lot of charm here, from the lovely language and strong sense of place to the often hilarious scenes between the Cakes themselves and the adventures the nosy, gossiping residents get up to. VERDICT This charming novel of belonging is a sweet addition to most collections.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

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Starred review from May 15, 2018
A small Southern town welcomes Emma and her family, self-styled "itinerant bakers."Eleven-year-old Emma Alabama Lane Cake, her five brothers, their four dogs, and their two eccentric parents travel from place to place because, as patriarch Leo Cake likes to remind his family, "There is so much need in the world, after all, and cake is one simple way to soothe it." The family never stays long, and they never visit the same town twice. However, when they enter Halleluia, the setting of two previous Aurora County novels (Love, Ruby Lavender, 2001, and The Aurora County All-Stars, 2007), it feels both familiar and enchanting. Emma is heartbroken about constantly having to leave her friends behind with each move. So, though the trees seem to whisper a welcome to her, she has decided not to make any new friends this time. Despite her best efforts, Emma is befriended by Ruby Lavender, who is "not very sweet" but pertinacious in her goodness, and together they hatch a plan to keep the family from moving again. The Cakes and Ruby are white, but Halleluia's population of oddball inhabitants includes warmly realized black characters, befitting the Mississippi setting. Wiles' nimble and buoyant prose speaks of yearning, the sweet blossoming of friendship, and the comfort of belonging.At turns ebullient and sober, this tale is as reassuring and tantalizing as the scent of freshly baked pastries. (author's note, recipes) (Fiction. 9-12)

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