What’s an aspiring 11-year-old chef/food critic to do with parents who believe cooking is done in the microwave and only eat at fast food restaurants? Well, that’s exactly Gladys’s problem in All Four Stars. This charming novel by Tara Dairman reads like a mash up of Roald Dahl’s Matilda and the newspaper restaurant review section, but with Julie Child as the protégé. Gladys knows, and sneaks, her way around the kitchen and produces amazing creations–all of which she keeps hidden from her parents. After an alarming incident with a blow torch and the kitchen curtains, her secret is discovered and poor Gladys is forced to give up her passion. All Four Stars shows what she now does with her forced free time and her road to winning her parents over. Will they ever realize that Gladys in a genius when it comes to cooking and baking, creating masterpieces well beyond her years? Will they realize that food does not have to come in varying shades of brown and that it can be an amazing experience? You will just have to read All Four Stars to find out and to enjoy the fun adventure of Gladys’s journey to accomplished food critic along the way.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  1 religious exclamation.

Violence/Gore: None

Sex/Nudity:  None

Mature Subject Matter:

None

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None