SWEET TREATS & SECRET CRUSHES

Seventh-grade friends Olivia, Georgia and Kate can’t wait for Valentine’s Day. Olivia hopes that Phillip Becker-Jacobs, the constant subject of her Observation Notebook, will give her a handmade valentine; Kate is convinced her latest crush will ask her out; and Georgia is looking forward to a special dinner at Chen’s Kitchen, her family’s restaurant. When a blizzard disrupts their Valentine’s Day plans, the girls, stuck in their Brooklyn apartment building, try to salvage the day by making fortune cookies in Chen’s Kitchen and delivering them to their reclusive neighbors. Olivia, Georgia and Kate hope the treats will spread some cheer and bring everyone together, but as the day progresses, they find their friendship falling apart, and the building feels as lonely as ever. Olivia has always believed there’s a bit of magic in Chen’s Kitchen’s cookies, and that’s exactly what the girls need to stop Valentine’s Day from being a complete disaster. As told in their alternating voices, Olivia, Georgia and Kate’s escapades—filled with nosy parents, pesky siblings and plenty of boy drama—will resonate with young teens. The story is as sweet as the treats the girls dole out. (Fiction. 10-14)