You're Bacon Me Crazy: A Wish Novel

From School Library Journal Gr 5–7—A lighthearted novel about a tween tasked with saving her beloved aunt's food truck, all while enduring the drama of growing up. Tessa Kostas loves working after school at Tasty Truck, where she serves delicious sandwiches to happy customers and creates new recipes for the menu. When the Bacon Me Crazy BLT is nominated for the Flavorfest Best Award, she couldn't be happier. But her life starts to unravel when her best friend Mei gets a boyfriend and forgets about her, popular boy Asher comes to work at Tasty Truck with a bad attitude, a snobby restaurateur cancels Flavorfest, and her mother forbids her to work at the food truck after Tessa neglects her studies. As Tessa works to save Tasty Truck from financial ruin, she and Asher get closer, forcing her to question her perception of him and opening herself up for new friendships, new enemies, and maybe even a new romance. Nelson crafts a breezy, food-focused read that teaches valuable lessons about working hard for the things and people you love. Although the conflicts are sometimes too conveniently resolved, the characters are honest. Readers will enjoy the age-appropriate romance, and there are enough character development, humor, and bacon references to keep them entertained. There are also bacon recipes included at the end. VERDICT For library collections with a high demand for upbeat and funny reads.—Jessica Holland, University of Kentucky, Lexington Praise for You're Bacon Me Crazy : "Nelson crafts a breezy, food-focused read that teaches valuable lessons about working hard for the things and people you love. . . . Readers will enjoy the age-appropriate romance, and there are enough character development, humor, and bacon references to keep them entertained." -- School Library Journal Suzanne Nelson has written several children's books, including Cake Pop Crush , Macarons at Midnight , Hot Cocoa Hearts , You're Bacon Me Crazy , Donut Go Breaking My Heart , Sundae My Prince Will Come , Shake It Off , Pumpkin Spice Up Your Life , and A Tale Magnolious . She lives with her family in Ridgefield, Connecticut, where she can also be found experimenting with all kinds of cooking. Learn more about Suzanne at suzannenelson.com. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. "But... but Asher can't work here!" I sputtered. I quickly painted a picture of his personality for my aunt, hoping the birthday-party story would discourage her. Then I added, "There's not enough room in the truck for four of us, and I'm sure he doesn't know a thing about cooking or food, and we have so much to do to get ready for Flavorfest already...." And he'll ruin everything, I almost said, but didn't.Cleo smiled. "It'll be fine," she said as she finished buckling the veggie containers into their seat belts for the ride home. "Like I told Mrs. Rivers, Gabe and I were talking about hiring some extra help anyway."Gabe nodded while he locked the cabinets so nothing would fly open. "I'm going to be busy working on my grad thesis for the next couple of months, and there's an evening horticulture class Cleo wants to take at Berkeley.""Besides," Cleo added, "having Asher around will give us more time to work on our Flavorfest menu."Doubt must have been all over my face, because Cleo laughed and tweaked my nose playfully. "Come on, Tessa. Just cut him some slack, and I'm sure your cooking instincts will rub off on him in no time. Okay?"I sighed, but because I love Cleo and didn't want to argue with her, I reluctantly bit into the inevitable. "Okay," I said. "But if he gives all of our customers botulism, don't blame me."Cleo laughed so hard she snorted, which is one of the things I love best about her. "Done," she finally said.Cleo's reassurance didn't help, though. I was sure of one thing: There were about to be way too many cooks in the Tasty Truck kitchen. Read more