  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 06/01/2015 Gr 4–6—Four 10-year-old female campers bond while making cookies at summer camp after their counselor grows tired of them not getting along. The girls are very different, and while this is only sketched out at the beginning of the book while they are attending camp in Arizona, their individual personalities are revealed during the following school year after they return home. Like a younger version of Ann Brashares's "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (Random), this book details how the girls bake and send one another cookies at what turn out to be critical times in the school year. The narrative is divided into four main sections in which readers get to see each character's home and school life. The girls correspond and describe the issues they face either with friends or family. Though the plotting is fairly simplistic, the variety of families depicted is refreshing. The four protagonists are of different races and are part of a variety of realistic family situations; some have siblings, some are only children, some have single parents. All of them are navigating sixth grade and learning about themselves and others. Recipes are included. VERDICT Readers will enjoy getting to know the campers from Flowerpot Cabin and baking—and tasting—the included cookie recipes.—Sarah Wilsman, Kent Free Library, Kent, OH - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2015 The four middle-grade girls in Flowerpot Cabin at Moonlight Ranch Summer Camp are not getting along-until they must work together to make cookies. While the cookie-making doesn’t fix everything, it helps, and by the end of summer Grace, Emma, Olivia, and Lucy decide to stay in touch by taking turns sending each other cookies. The cookie, email, and letter exchanges allow each girl to narrate a section that elaborates on a particular problem she is facing and its resolution; Grace, for example, is having some difficulty getting along with a bossy classmate and Emma has misplaced some important family photos. Although the characterizations are a bit, well, cookie-cutter and the plot is somewhat contrived, the multicultural girls (Grace is half Singaporean, Emma is Jewish, Grace is African-American and affluent, Lucy is white and poor) are still an engaging crew and the variety of issues and identities ensures that many readers will find a connection point with at least one of the characters. The smooth writing and quick pacing make the pages fly by, as does Freeman’s clever technique of leaving each girl’s story unfinished until her letter to the next girl clears up loose ends. Particularly touching is Emma’s letter to Olivia about her older brother who died before Emma was born. Hand this to the BFFs who aren’t quite ready for Brashares’ The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (BCCB 12/01). Four cookie recipes are included. JH - Copyright 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Loading...
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