#raciallydiverse

[classnotkyriarchy]

Book Review: All Four Stars, Tara Dairman

Book Title: All Four Stars

Author: Tara Dairman

Reading Level: Lexile is 950, just above end of 4th and moving to 5th.

Length: 273 pages

Summary: Gladys loves too cook, but keeps it a secret from her cooking inept parents.  But, one day she accidentally sets the kitchen on fire and they find out. She is banned from cooking until she can pay the damages and is ordered to do things normal 11 year olds do.  She does as she’s told until her entry in an essay contest leads to her getting a job as a food critic at a big NYC paper.  Now she has to figure out how to review a restaurant -- without her parents or the restaurant figuring it out!  Along the way she makes some friends, makes delicious food, and comes up with some really clever plans.

Tags: girl main character, racially diverse characters, 2000s, suburban, USA, girls dealing with sexism, supportive adults

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Setting: NYC Suburbs in the 2000s

Recommended For: Kids who love food, kids who want to be writers, realistic fiction lovers, kids who love cheerful stories, kids who love a trickster or schemer. 

Opinion: This book was a lot of fun.  The main character is a complex representation of a girl. Gladys loves cooking and is clearly into the methodology and science of it. She is assertive, clever, passionate, and a creative writer.  She is also an oddball and ok with that.  Her character requires only a little suspension of disbelief to be believed.  I particularly enjoyed the parts of the story where she grew in her friendships through plotting increasingly complex schemes.  

Racially diverse characters are scattered throughout the book and most are given layers that make them into more than just tokens.  The author includes adults from around the world, each of whom play a supporting role in the story. In general the adults are very supportive in this book. Technology plays an important role in the book and use of tablets, computers, emails, computer games, and computer programming are a part of the book.  Children and adults use them appropriately and have good limits. 

This book was especially wonderful because of the different narrators and quirky characters. The way All Four Stars showcased food from around the world made it sounds delicious and sometimes poetic.  Don’t read on an empty stomach!