THIS COOKIE WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Misfits adrift during the summer between elementary and middle school intersect in a story of loneliness, hope, and cookies.

It’s the summer after sixth grade, and five lonely young people struggle with the challenges of their home lives. Tilly Fox, Mateo Ruiz, Eloise Zussman, Jada Rocaberte, and Herschel Edwards each face serious problems, including domestic violence, poverty, deceased or absent parents, and depression. One day, Tilly and Mateo cross paths at the public library with Jada and Eloise, and they all get swept up in Eloise’s plan to start a business selling her homemade cookies. Herschel, Eloise’s former best friend, is drawn into the project later in the story. As their plans take shape, the assumptions they’ve made about each other start to fall away. The kids’ experience with a traumatic incident forces them out of their self-protective isolation, and they learn to support each other and share the reality of their lives. The changes in perspective as the third-person chapters rotate among the ensemble cast initially adversely affect the story’s flow, but the faster pace in the second half helps compensate for this issue. Ellis realistically explores tween anxieties, and readers will yearn to find a community of support and true friendship like these young people have created. Names offer clues to some of the characters’ ethnic identities.

The warm positives of friendship and mutual support shine through despite a bumpy storytelling style.