Review by Booklist Review
While Alice enjoys cooking with her father, a culinary historian, she finds it unsettling that his new girlfriend has arranged for them to compete as a team on Alice's favorite cooking show, Culinary Chronicles. Another surprise comes after they arrive at a grand country estate for the week of filming: rebranded as Culinary Combat, the show will now be hosted by the notoriously combative Tom Truffleman. The competitive experience is challenging, and Truffleman is demeaning, but Alice finds support from two new friends, Tavi and Henry, a young detective. After suspicious mishaps occur on the set, they join forces to identify the saboteur. Readers who watch competitive cooking shows will enjoy the backstage view, while others will relate to Alice's anxiety about appearing on TV, as well as her reluctance to accept her father's girlfriend. Delaney creates an array of colorful characters and keeps them in play as suspects, but Alice remains in the spotlight, focusing on problems, adapting to changing circumstances, and shifting her preconceived notions. A lively mystery sprinkled with anecdotes from culinary history.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rising seventh grader Alice Fleck, 12, who has unruly "ginger-colored hair," secretly enjoys being sous-chef to her culinary historian father as they whip up historically accurate, sometimes stomach-churning, recipes. But then her father's "unnecessary" girlfriend, Hana Holmes, announces that she has entered the duo into their favorite cooking show, Culinary Chronicles, "quite possibly the friendliest cooking competition on TV." Alice doesn't want to be on-screen--or around Hana, since the program will be shot at the "week-long Victorian festival" Hana is lecturing at. Things go from sour to downright unsavory when the production team announces that the show has been acquired and transformed into Culinary Combat, evaluated by Tom Truffleman, "the fiercest judge in the world of competitive cooking." As the contestants prepare Victorian dishes such as charlotte russe, suspicious kitchen accidents point to sabotage, and Alice and her new friends, two other children at the festival, must find the perpetrator--especially after Truffleman accuses Alice's father of cheating. Detailing fascinating food history and delectable dishes, Delaney (Clara Voyant) serves a toothsome culinary caper amid a gentle, well-balanced portrait of one preteen's journey toward accepting adaptability and change. Ages 10--14. Agent: Amy Tompkins, Transatlantic Agency. (May)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4--6--Variety may be the spice of life; but for 12-year-old Alice Fleck, too many changes spell trouble. Alice is not looking forward to middle school, and she isn't very happy about her dad James's new girlfriend, Hana. Things heat up when Alice realizes that her dad and Hana have been planning for them all to attend a Victorian festival where Hana will be lecturing--and that Hana signed Alice and James up to compete on Culinary Capers, a historical cooking show that's filmed there. Alice and her culinary historian dad have been cooking together all her life, but not in front of cameras. Granted, Culinary Capers isn't as intense as most cooking shows; plus, it doesn't even air on a popular station (just the history station), so it's not like anyone will see it. But Alice and James discover there have been some changes to the familiar show. Culinary Capers has become Culinary Combat, complete with a new host, a new network, and a ruthless new judge, Tom Truffleman, who does not like kids. Alice feels alone until she befriends two other kids at the festival, Tavi and Henry, and they decide to figure out who is behind all the "accidents" happening on set. Alongside the mystery plot, Alice's insecurities and family concerns feel authentic, as does her relationship with her father. Alice and her dad are white, and there is diversity among the supporting characters. VERDICT Delaney takes readers on an adventure that feels like a cross between Kids Baking Championship and Scooby Doo in all the best possible ways, along with a few behind-the-scenes glimpses of reality TV and social media. Recommended for fans of cooking shows and sweet family stories.--Heather Webb, Worthington Libs., OH
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Mix one shy tween, one unwelcome new woman in her single dad's life, one Victorian hotel, and one TV cook-off prone to mysterious failures. Shake and bake. Ever since the fifth grade calf's foot jelly incident, Alice has kept her love for cookery on the down low--but all bets are off after she learns that Hana, her food historian dad's girlfriend, has signed him up for a weeklong reality cooking competition ominously christened Culinary Combat. Events conspire to keep Alice on the hop too, as the challenge of facing the show's caustic, terrifying judge while preparing dishes like Victoria sponge cake and charlotte russe on camera--at first as her dad's sous-chef, then alone after he's eliminated for alleged misbehavior--is complicated by a string of malfunctioning appliances and other odd kitchen mishaps…not to mention her own tangled feelings about Hana, who introduces her to the intriguing world of Japanese desserts and is actually pretty cool in other ways. Spooning new friends with surprising talents, savvy detective work (it turns out the show does have a saboteur), and mouthwatering foodie talk (if no actual recipes) into this culinary caper, Delaney dishes up a savory tale that tests her young cuisinier--in the face of change as much as in the kitchen--on the way to a flying finish. Alice and her dad present White; Hana has some Japanese ancestry; and there is diversity in the supporting cast. Generous portions of yum for fans of mysteries and mille-feuille. (Mystery. 10-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
