{"id":15386,"date":"2026-06-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=15386"},"modified":"2026-06-22T14:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T19:54:33","slug":"is-this-place-the-best-space-for-saffron-her-interests-and-her-moms-by-rie-neal-mg-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=15386","title":{"rendered":"Is this place the best SPACE FOR SAFFRON, her interests, and her moms? by Rie Neal (MG book review)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" data-attachment-id=\"15418\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?attachment_id=15418\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/space-for-saffron-9781665972529_xlg.jpg?fit=605%2C900&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"605,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"space-for-saffron-9781665972529_xlg\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/space-for-saffron-9781665972529_xlg.jpg?fit=605%2C900&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/space-for-saffron-9781665972529_xlg.jpg?resize=201%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A red-headed tween girl wearing hearing aids, jeans, and backpack holds a volcano model in doorway of a bakery on book cover of Space for Saffron, by Rie Neal.\" class=\"wp-image-15418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/space-for-saffron-9781665972529_xlg.jpg?resize=201%2C300&amp;ssl=1 201w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/space-for-saffron-9781665972529_xlg.jpg?resize=101%2C150&amp;ssl=1 101w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/space-for-saffron-9781665972529_xlg.jpg?w=605&amp;ssl=1 605w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Constantly in motion, <br \/>dreaming of science, <br \/>needing her own space in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saffron didn&#8217;t plan for her volcano experiment to make such a mess up, but the mean boss fires Mama and says the 10 year old has to pay to clean up the diner!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not many jobs in their small Iowa town, so when Gran calls to ask her moms to run the family&#8217;s cafe in California while she travels, it&#8217;s worth a try. Mimi says she can get construction work there, if Saffron is willing to move before the school science fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So they pack up (volcano included) and drive to Oakvale where they&#8217;ll live above the cafe (Saffron on a couch-bed for now) &#8211; wow, so much work needed downstairs to bring customers back in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Different schedule and classes, finding new friends, explaining her hearing aids and ADHD, but the science fair at Saffron&#8217;s new school is still ahead &#8211; another chance for her volcano!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Uncle Toby helps when he can, but the cafe needs something special to compete for customers here in Silicon Valley, where Granpy worked with NASA scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oh, her classmates have planned projects with robots and coding and computers &#8211; will her simple volcano be enough? <br \/>They help her brainstorm for STEM ideas that will make the cafe stand out &#8211; will the grownups agree? <br \/>If Gran wants to run the cafe again after her vacation &#8211; where will Saffron and her moms go? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Family and friends, volcanos and space &#8211; maybe Saffron can find a space that&#8217;s truly hers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What was your favorite science fair experiment?<br \/>**kmm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Book info<\/strong>: Space for Saffron \/ Rie Neal. Aladdin, 2026. [author site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rienealwrites.com\/\">https:\/\/www.rienealwrites.com\/<\/a>] [publisher site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simonandschuster.com\/books\/Space-for-Saffron\/Rie-Neal\/9781665972529\">https:\/\/www.simonandschuster.com\/books\/Space-for-Saffron\/Rie-Neal\/9781665972529<\/a>] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Constantly in motion, dreaming of science, needing her own space in the world. Saffron didn&#8217;t plan for her volcano experiment to make such a mess up, but the mean boss fires Mama and says the 10 year old has to pay to clean up the diner! Not many jobs in their small Iowa town, so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[22,4,105,11,182,5,192,16,18,44,185,43,229,187,27,49,184,132,15,9,91,21,342,35,6,8],"class_list":["post-15386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-behavior","tag-belonging","tag-california","tag-communication","tag-cooking","tag-coping","tag-creativity","tag-determination","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-grandparents","tag-growing-up","tag-iowa","tag-lgbtq","tag-medical","tag-memories","tag-mothers","tag-personal-finance","tag-relationships","tag-school","tag-science","tag-self-image","tag-space","tag-surprises","tag-travel","tag-us-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15386"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15422,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15386\/revisions\/15422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}