Young Madeleine is the best chef at the Squealing Pig, run by her uncle, Monsieur Lard, a greedy bully who turns every recipe into a greasy disaster. When Madeleine comes across Madame Pamplemousse’s mysterious shop Edibles—cool, musty-smelling and full of such unusual supplies as salt-cured raptor tails and pâté of North Atlantic sea serpent with green peppercorn mustard—she unwittingly finds her place in the world, a place where cheeses seem to sigh and sausages whisper in “dry, garlicky voices.” Her culinary discoveries stir up a delicious sensation, and Monsieur Lard gets his just deserts before the culinary world of Paris. Kingfisher’s first novel is a sensory delight, with well-paced prose and the playful language of Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket, the magic of J.K. Rowling, Julia Child’s passion for French cuisine and the rhythms of Ludwig Bemelmans’s own story of a Parisian girl named Madeline. Hellard’s black-and-white line drawings help to keep this concoction lighter than air: Like a good soufflé, it puffs over the top but holds together for a delectable treat. (Fantasy. 8-12)
