Reveiw: Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes

Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes by Lisa Greenwald, is exactly that.. a sweet treat.  Lisa Greenwald is an author that lives in the mid of your typical 13 year old girl. She even said so herself at our 2009 Kid-Lit Festival.  Her latest book steps up her game even more, taking her into the mind of three very unique 13 year olds, all best friends.

When a blizzard threatens to ruin Valentine’s Day, three seventh-grade friends make and distribute fortune cookies to their lonely neighbors—and confront the secrets they’ve been keeping from one another. Confident Kate doesn’t notice much but the latest gossip, and shy Georgia can’t say out loud what’s always on her mind. They’re joined by observant, careful Olivia, whose epic, single-minded crush on PBJ (real name: Phillip Becker-Jacobs) is starting to frustrate the other two. Using fortune cookies that mysteriously always seem to speak directly to the person who opens them, the three girls try to work together to bring some love to their building, while reminding each other why they’re such good friends to begin with.

When I first started reading this I thought.... oh no Lisa, not a teeny bopper schmaltzy first kiss book.  But she didn't disappoint.  While crushes are core to the story moving along, it really has little to do with the boys.  The three friends find themselves pulling apart now that they each have their own crush, and a few secrets.  Being stranded in their apartment building on Valentine's Day forces them to reveal their secrets, anaylze their crushes, and bond again over a few fortune cookies.  The plot moves through alternating b/w the three girls telling the story and takes place over the course of 30 hours, with a bulk being the day stuck at home.  We get a good glimpse into the psyche of each girl through her storytelling, and her relationships with her family.  The three have distinct personalities, which many young girls will quickly be able to identify with (the quiet thoughtful one, the observer/busy body, and the boy crazy one).  Lisa melds these three together beautifully and makes you want to be a resident in their building as they not only bring themselves together, but the entire neighborhood as well (including some boys!).  This is a book that belongs on every middle school library shelf and in each teacher's collection to loan out to that adolescent girl struggling with her own friend and boy issues. 
~Sam

This review is part of BookingMama's Kid Konnection meme