Some days at different houses,
so many assignments (just hide them),
not sporty, just his messy honest self…
Every kid in town goes to sixth grade in the same building for project-based learning and cool stuff together, except Elliott’s best friend who’s homeschooling across the country with his moms this year…sigh.
That leaves Elliott and his guinea pigs alone to deal with his divorced parents, his ADHD making his brain zone-out more often, and his lunch-buddies to excluding him from their year-end group project.
Well, brilliant Maribel can’t agree with her friends on what project to do, so it looks like she and Elliott are partners – with their semester grade on the line!
Their project must be something they can make themselves to sell, that’s related to their hometown, staying within a budget…hmmm.
Super-organized Maribel must avoid gluten in food or her digestive system goes haywire – how about gluten-free pies?
Easily distractible Elliott loves to experiment with cooking, but baking? His star chef idol says “cooking is about inspiration and baking is about control” (pg. 60) – can’t hurt to try.
In his mom’s cozy kitchen, the pair gets to work. Elliott’s attempt at gluten-free pie crust is disastrous, and Maribel’s wonderful strawberry filling is too expensive, so they search the cookbook library at Avery Local market for ideas.
As the weeks count down, the pressure builds up – have a successful project, get ready for his new step-brother to be born, stop ignoring The Incident, stop disappointing Dad about everything…
Honestly, Elliott is a guy you want to cheer for – and hope he can cope with all these changes!
What do you prefer – baking or cooking?
**kmm
Book info: Honestly Elliott / Gillian McDunn. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
Sounds like a cute book/plot for young readers! I actually am not a cook or a baker, lol, preferring neither, though I do like to eat 🙂 Thankfully my husband enjoys cooking and does well with it an the few times we bake, he does most of the work with it. I’m content just helping with cleaning up and licking the beaters 🙂
betty
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