Book review - The Secret of Honeycake

 

Title: The Secret of Honeycake

Author: Kimberly Newton Fusco

Age range: middle grade

Genre: historical fiction

Similar books: Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell

                      Bea and the New Deal Horse by L. M. Elliot

Summary (provided by publisher): A recipe for The World’s Most Comforting, Twelve-Layer Honeycake:

1 quiet girl named Hurricane, who runs like the wind along the Mighty Atlantic with her old dog Brody-Bear.

1 imperious aunt, who steps up when Hurricane’s world turns upside down.

 1 kind-hearted boy, who helps wounded animals (and may smell a little of fish)

1 lonely and flea-bitten cat with a ragged ear and a crooked tail.

1 gentle chauffeur, who knows exactly what to say…and when not to say a thing.

Mix them all together in big, fancy house in the city.  What you get might surprise you.

What I liked: This is a surprisingly gentle story. With short chapters that say exactly what they need to, the reader moves quickly through the plot. Characters are allowed to develop naturally and while they aren't always likeable they are believable. All around, a solid read.

What I didn't like: Not much about this one jumps out as a problem for me. The historical setting may be a challenge for some but it doesn't lean too hard into those elements.

More information: The Secret of Honeycake releases January 21.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Custom t-shirt

 I had a plain t-shirt in my craft supplies that I decided to decorate for my mother for her birthday (which is today - Happy Birthday to Mom!). I decided on this fellow from Animaniacs for the theme:

If you're unfamiliar, he was the star of a short segment where he would come out and tell a story, a common urban legend, as told to him by a kid named Randy Beaman.

Here's my take on him, painted with silver fabric paint.

WWW Wednesday

 What are you currently reading?

Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan - A verse novel about the Potato Famine

What did you recently finish reading?

The Secret of Honeycake by Kimberly Newton Fusco - When her sister falls ill with TB, a girl is sent to live with her strict aunt

What do you think you'll read next?

Danilo Was Here by Tamika Burgess

Listen With Me

 

Our Shouts Echo by Jade Adia

I've read books about kids being raised by preppers, but this may be the first I've read where the teen is the one instigating the changes. This book promises a protagonist responding to climate anxiety and trauma with prepping and a boy who turns her world upside down.

Non-fiction book review - Growing Up in the Shadow of Alcatraz

 

Growing Up in the Shadow of Alcatraz by Emma Bland Smith

Until the book Al Capone Does My Shirts I hadn't given much thought to the lives of children of Alcatraz guards. Most schools teach little about the prison, focusing primarily on it's fearsome reputation, but not much about the details of life there. This book aims to change that. We learn about the way the prison was set up, allowing for some families to live on island, and how the prison was a part of their daily lives. This book is very accessible, with simple language and easy to follow text all well-supported by photos and charts. There is, of course, little detail but it's compelling reading.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Pick 6: magic

Let's start out the year with excitement and wonder. And what better way to do that than with a book filled with magic? Some of these books feature a whole fantasy world populated by faeries and witches. Others have a small element of magic existing in an otherwise familiar world. No matter how it is represented, magic sparks our imagination and suggests that anything is possible. Here are six books published in the past six months that feature some form of magic.

Six new magical novels

1. Chasing the Shy Town by Erika McGann
2. Golemcrafters by Emi Watanabe Cohen
3. The Monstrous Adventures of Mummy Man and Waffles by Steve Behling
4. The Grimsbane Family Witch Hunters by 
5. When Wishes Were Horses by Cynthia Voight
6. The Night Librarian by Christopher Lincoln

It's a new year. Let's try new things

 When I started this blog ten years ago, I established a set structure for book reviews that I've followed ever since. It's worked for me thus far but recently I've found it more confining than helpful. So I've decided that 2025 is the year of new things. We're going to experiment with some different formats and find the one that works going forward. I'd love to hear any feedback you have as I implement these changes.