The Secret Cookie Club

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.