reading, reviewing, and recommending middlegrade stories
She closed her eyes and thought about some of the cakes she enjoyed. Cakes with thick icing. Cakes with jam on top of them. Cakes sprinkled with sugar and then dipped in little colored sugarballs. There were so many cakes… and all of them were so delicious.
―The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith
May 17 is National Pack Rat Day! If you are a collector of things, a hoarder of random objects, or loathe to throw anything out, you’re probably one of us. Do you recognize this famous fictional pack rat?
“Look,” he began in his sharp voice, “you say you have seven goslings. There were eight eggs. What happened to the other egg? Why didn’t it hatch?”
“It’s a dud, I guess,” said the goose.
“What are you going to do with it?” continued Templeton, his little round beady eyes fixed on the goose.
“You can have it,” replied the goose. “Roll it away and add it to that nasty collection of yours.” (Templeton had a habit of picking up unusual objects around the farm and storing them in his home. He saved everything.)
―Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
What do you collect?
I can’t say I ever wondered what it felt like to be human. But then, my grandfather Grenat always said, ‘It’s safer not to talk to your food,’ ― and as every dragon knows, humans are the most dangerous kind of meal there is.
―The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis
It was the most beautiful sweet roll Bee had ever seen. A flawless circle, puffy from rising, it was studded with raisins and drizzled with pink icing. She could feel the hunger rake its claws along her stomach lining as she gazed at it.
Baker’s Magic
Diane Zahler
It certainly wasn’t regular food that waited for him at the front of the Refectory. Steaming stone cauldrons along one side held an assortment of bizarre-looking food: stewed purple tubers, greens so dark they were almost black, fuzzy lichen, and a red speckled mushroom cap as large as a pizza and sliced up like a pie …. Tamara was already putting a scoop of the green stuff onto her plate. Aaron, however, was staring at the selection with the same expression of horror that Call felt.
The Iron Trial (Magisterium, #1)
Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
What am I doing? Something important. That’s what.
Well, if you must know, I’m eating chocolate. But it’s not like it sounds!
Trust me. It’s work. Research.
―This Book is Not Good for You by Pseudonymous Bosch
Dad was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking lemonade and eating leftovers. “Want some calamari, Joseph?” he called.
“Thanks, but I prefer my squid straight from the sea to the frying pan.” Mom travels to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, just to get catch-of-the-day squid from the boats off the Raritan Bay, and you can tell. Her fried calamari is the perfect combination of gummy squid and light, crispy batter. But to me, seafood leftovers taste soggy. Mom says she’s turned me into a spoiled calamari connoisseur at an early age.
Read CJ’s review on Goodreads >>
More foodie quotes and reviews to come. Because FOOD is May’s theme for #MGCarousel! Join in on the fun! Details here.
