ELLIE'S DELI

Ellie Glantz—loyal friend and champion worrier—returns for a second outing and faces new problems to solve.

Nina, who was introduced in the first book as a new addition to Ellie’s friend group, hasn’t gelled equally with all the pals and is stirring up drama. The venue where Ellie’s friend Charlie wanted to hold her bat mitzvah party closed, so she may not get to celebrate after the religious service. This leads Ellie to push for her family’s deli to add an event space, which could save the day for Charlie and expand their business. With all the distractions in her life, Ellie has totally lost focus on school—badly enough that her adviser has told her parents. The challenges Ellie faces feel a little more disjointed in this volume: The realistic nuance of Nina’s disruption to long-standing friendships seems to belong to a different story than the rosy collaboration of the event space project. As before, the problems take some wrangling, but all are completely resolved, even if somewhat implausibly and instantaneously. Though the specifics of Ellie’s academic challenges remain fuzzy, readers may take comfort in the practical, organizational support that helps her get back on track after a rough start to sixth grade. Spot illustrations and occasional recipes break up the text, contributing to the quick pace.

Readers looking for optimistic contemporary stories will breeze through this reassuring, relationship-driven tale.