ANSLEY'S BIG BAKE OFF

Name: ANSLEY'S BIG BAKE OFF
Author: Kaitlyn Pitts
ISBN: 978-0-310-76960-6

From the FaithGirlz/Daniels Sisters series

by Kaitlyn Pitts ; Camryn Pitts & Olivia Pitts with Janel Rodriguez Ferrer ; illustrated by Lucy Truman ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020

Slight but with some appeal to series fans.

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Ansley discovers herself through gymnastics and baking.

This Christian middle-grade novel is a syrupy sweet addition to the publisher’s FaithGirlz line. A spinoff of the Lena in the Spotlight series, this book centers on Lena’s younger sister Ansley, the second of four in a tightknit black family. The girls’ mother died unexpectedly just weeks ago, leaving them in mourning just before they start at the Roland Lake Christian Academy, just days after moving to a new town. Despite their grief, the girls are bubbly and optimistic as they anticipate starting their new life, making new friends, and signing up for gymnastics. Such an adjustment is tough, but it’s made even tougher by Ansley’s instant rivalry with fellow classmate Taylor Lang. Even as Ansley discovers a love of baking, she obsesses over ways to win Taylor over, trying to treat the white girl as Jesus might. Further conflict arises when Ansley must decide if she wants to perform gymnastics, compete in a bake-off, or sign up for both at the upcoming town fair. This book is fairly breezy considering the variety of themes it tackles. It can be read as a stand-alone but will likely be best enjoyed by established fans. Though readers learn of their mother’s passing early on, that trauma is barely felt, with the antagonism between Ansley and Taylor taking up the bulk of the plot.

Slight but with some appeal to series fans. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: April 7, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-310-76960-6

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Zonderkidz

Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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FINALLY, SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS

From the One and Onlys series , Vol. 1

by Doug Cornett ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2020

Delightful fun for budding mystery fans.

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Only children, rejoice! A cozy mystery just for you! (People with siblings will probably enjoy it too.)

Debut novelist Cornett introduces the One and Onlys, a trio of mystery-solving only kids: Gloria Longshanks “Shanks” Hill, Alexander “Peephole” Calloway, and narrator Paul (alas, no nickname) Marconi. The trio has a knack for finding and solving low-level mysteries, but they come up against a true head-scratcher when the yard of a resident of their small town is covered in rubber ducks overnight. Working ahead of Officer Portnoy, who’s a little on the slow side, can Paul, Shanks, and Peephole solve the mystery? Cornett has a lot of fun with this adventure, dropping additional side mysteries, a subplot about small businesses, big corporations, and economics, and a town’s love of bratwurst into the mix. Most importantly, he plays fair with the clues throughout, allowing astute readers to potentially solve the case ahead of the trio. The tone and mystery are perfect for younger readers who want to test their detective skills but are put off by anything scary or gory. The pacing would serve well for chapter-by-chapter read-alouds. If there are any quibbles, it’s the lack of diversity of the cast, as it defaults white. Diversity exists in small towns, and this one is crying out for more. Hopefully a sequel will introduce additional faces.

Delightful fun for budding mystery fans. (Mystery. 8-12)

Pub Date: April 14, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-3003-6

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S MYSTERY & THRILLER | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ANYBODY HERE SEEN FRENCHIE?

by Leslie Connor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 15, 2022

Honors the sweet mysteries of how to communicate with each other and the world.

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Sixth grader Aurora Petrequin needs to say whatever she’s thinking.

She’s loud. Eleven-year-old Frenchie Livernois, her next-door neighbor, is autistic and nonvocal. Yet the moment these opposites meet they fit together perfectly. Frenchie focuses Aurora’s energy and helps her slow down and observe. Aurora looks out for Frenchie and leads him on adventures both nature lovers enjoy. But when Frenchie vanishes one day before school, Aurora, who feels bad about how often she messes up, realizes this is a “Worst Possible” fear come true, and her understanding of their best friendship is put to the test. Where did he go? Could she have stopped him from disappearing—and did she cause him to go? What does it all have to do with the piebald deer they spotted in the woods? Connor creates a playground of a coastal Maine town where the quirky locals are accessible and caring. Aurora’s and Frenchie’s families build an ecosystem that sustains and encourages their friendship, and Aurora’s buoyant enthusiasm infuses the story with adventurous fun and a lack of preachiness while not undercutting real stakes. However, Frenchie, although treated with respect, is a bit shortchanged and on occasion robbed of narrative autonomy. It can feel like he is being discussed rather than being involved, a situation compounded by the fact that fewer portions of the story are narrated from his point of view. Main characters default to White; Aurora is cued as neurodiverse.

Honors the sweet mysteries of how to communicate with each other and the world. (Fiction. 8-12)