Pakistani American Sara is in her first year at public middle school after previously attending a private Mosque school her family can no longer afford. Elizabeth, Jewish and white, is in the after-school cooking club Mrs. Hameed (Sara's mom) is running. The two meet in the club and soon realize they have much in common, including immigrant mothers preparing for the U.S. citizenship test (or, in the case of Elizabeth's British mother, not preparing, which worries her). Alternating chapters from each girl's perspective chronicle their developing friendship and personal challenges. Sara is worried about her family's financial situation, and wonders if her parents will ever support her desire to study art. Elizabeth is worried about her mom, depressed since the death of her own mother back in England; her dad's way of dealing with it is to travel more than ever for work. As the two girls develop a recipe for an upcoming contest, their friendship is complicated by Elizabeth's best friend, Maddy, whose racist, anti-Muslim comments are not only hateful but ill-informed. Sara is disappointed by Elizabeth's silence, while Elizabeth knows she should challenge Maddy, but has no idea what to say. How Sara and Elizabeth openly discuss this tension is one of the welcome, intentional aspects of this appealing, insightful novel. So, too, is the role of food, including its connection to culture, and the young chefs' realistic mistakes and false starts. (Ages 9-12)

A timely, accessible, and beautifully written story exploring themes of food, friendship, family and what it means to belong, featuring sixth graders Sara, a Pakistani American, and Elizabeth, a white, Jewish girl taking a South Asian cooking class taught by Sara's mom.

Sixth graders Sara and Elizabeth could not be more different. Sara is at a new school that is completely unlike the small Islamic school she used to attend. Elizabeth has her own problems: her British mum has been struggling with depression. The girls meet in an after-school South Asian cooking class, which Elizabeth takes because her mom has stopped cooking, and which Sara, who hates to cook, is forced to attend because her mother is the teacher. The girls form a shaky alliance that gradually deepens, and they make plans to create the most amazing, mouth-watering cross-cultural dish together and win a spot on a local food show. They make good cooking partners . . . but can they learn to trust each other enough to become true friends?