Everyone loves bakeries! You can always smell fresh baked bread or croissants. Or even delicious cakes, cupcakes or pancakes... Well, dear reader, if you want to go to a magic bakery, then this book is perfect for you! There is a magic cookbook hidden in the bakery... With the help of the cookbook, you can prepare unusual food! The story is quite delicious! So delicious, that you’d probably want to eat a cupcake... Or maybe the book...
Rosemary Bliss is the main character of the story and the daughter of two magician cookers, Albert and Purdy Bliss. Rosemary (or Rose, for short) has two brothers, Thyme and Sage, and one cute little sister named Leigh. Thyme (or Ty, for short) is the oldest brother and Sage, the youngest.
Albert and Purdy make lots and lots of magic goodies in their bakery. Some of them are just plain old things to eat... But other cakes and stuff are very powerful: they can do many useful things... They can even heal people from an entire kingdom! The Bliss Cookery Booke is very secret, no one knows anything about it (well, except for Rose). Albert and Purdy give their best to protect the book from anyone who wants to get it. There are many recipes in this cookbook, long or short, good or bad. Cooking up magic can turn into chaos if you don’t know how to use the spells...
Rose desperately wants to be a “kitchen magician”, just like her parents. Albert and Purdy send her to buy some ingredients for their recipes, that’s all... Rose wants more than just that! She wants to bake, too, to waddle around the kitchen, pour ingredients into the bowl, mix them and then, taste her work! Apparently, she is the only kid from the Bliss family who has this wish! Ty wants to be cool and handsome, Sage wishes to be like his older brother and Leigh... Little Leigh just plays all day, nothing else!
One day, Albert and Purdy have to go in a town to save some people! They have to bake something... “It is going to be a lot of work to do”, they say, so Rose, Ty, Sage and Leigh remain alone in the bakery for a whole week, in the company of Chip, a friend of theirs. Rose is very happy! Finally, she gets an opportunity to bake something! Not necessarily from the magic cookbook. Ty wants to sleep all day (“We’ll get to actually bake!” said Rose. Ty scoffed. “Correction, mi hermana. (...) You’ll get to actually bake. I’ll get to actually relax.”) and Sage and Leigh want to... play.
Unfortunately, Aunt Lily comes to the Bliss Bakery and... the plans change a bit. Who is Aunt Lily? She says that she is kind of related with Purdy... But the two of them are in a continuous fight, so that’s why Lily comes to the bakery only when Purdy is gone (which happens rarely). She is so beautiful and nice, that Ty, Sage and Leigh consider her an angel. They listen to everything she says, admire her... Rose is impressed of Aunt Lily’s perfect attitude, too, but she doesn’t know if she can really trust her. She has something special... Something hidden... Something that makes everyone around her listen to her whatever it takes. In her life, Rose has smelt many nice or bad smells in the bakery, coming from her parents’ goodies. But, for the first time, she smells... something fishy coming from Aunt Lily. It’s not a fish smell when I say “fishy”... It’s something strange and suspicious...
During the story, many recipes are used, but the most important ones are the Love Muffins, the Cookies of Truth, the Turn-Around-Inside-Out-Upside-Down Cake and the Back-to-Before Blackberry Torte. Surprisingly, Ty and Sage help Rose in the kitchen. They don’t want Aunt Lily to find out about the Bliss Cookery Booke, so they copy some recipes from the cookbook and try them out. The Love Muffins and the Cookies of Truth are not very safe... They bring some problems in the town where the Bliss family lives... The kids are worried and scared that their parents might find out about their mistake! They quickly try to find out another recipe to fix the damage: the Turn-Around-Inside-Out-Upside-Down Cake. Unfortunately, this cake turns everything from bad to worse. All the people eat a piece of cake and then, start to talk and walk backwards! They turn around, go inside and out and even their daily routine is turned upside down! As you can see, I used all the words from the cake’s name (turn around, inside, out, upside down). Rose is frustrated! She realizes why her parents don’t let her touch the cookbook... If you don’t know how to bake the things inside the book, all the magic can turn into a complete damage!
Aunt Lily, after she finds out about the cookbook, offers to help. She cooks with the children the Back-to-Before Blackberry Torte and invites everyone to a disco party (because everything is going backwards now, they have to say like this: “ON OCSID YTRAP NI NWOT ERAUQS! OD TON OG OT NWOT ERAUQS!” That means, “No disco party in town square! Do not go in town square!” It sounds quite strange backwards, don’t you think?). Rose is happy that, with the help of Aunt Lily, everything turns back to before (just like the cake’s name says)!
The story is very funny and I would like to read it again! The recipes sound delicious, but the ingredients are strange. And interesting, at the same time! There are a lot of strange words used in the recipes and they have to be translated, so Rose and the others can cook: “Fist = half cup. Flame = 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Song = 4 minutes. Acorn = teaspoon. Walnut = tablespoon.”
Here are two funny parts from the story that I liked very much:
1. Ty offers Love Muffins and Cookies of Truth to all the girls from his class. The next day, the girls go all mad over Ty. They want their yearbooks signed. To calm them down, Rose suggests Ty to say nice things to them... Check out this funny paragraph:
“Nice things?” Ty complained. “Just look at them. Do you really think these girls deserve compliments?” “There’s no time for thinking, Ty!” Rose shouted. “Just doing! Go forth and compliment!” “Callie,” Ty called. A girl with brown pigtails stepped up to the window. “Your hair is bouncy.” Callie’s eyes rolled back in her head and she wilted in ecstasy. “Jenna,” he called as another girl with braces and round glasses approached. “You have glasses and braces.” Jenna stiffened like a tree and fell to the ground. “Lisa.” A girl wearing what to Rose looked like a potato sack approached. “Lisa. You’re... alive.” Lisa spun in a joyful circle before falling to her knees and swooning. (...) Ty called the girls one by one, doling out the most lackluster compliments Rose had ever heard – but they worked every time. By the time he was done, there were only ten or so girls left standing. “Don’t stop now!” “I don’t even know their names!” Ty moaned. “Well, then try singing something,” she said, sharing a private smile with Sage. “I am not singing.” (...) Ty grumbled and stuck the megaphone against the mail slot. “Jingle bells, Batman smells... Robin laid an egg...” (pages 176-177)
Isn’t this paragraph quite funny? :)) I really laughed my socks off when I read it!!!
2. My second favorite paragraph is when Rose meets her crush, Devin Stetson, at the disco party. Here is another paragraph with their conversation:
“She made her way through the mob to where Devin Stetson was dancing. (...) “Ih,” he said. “Ih.” “Uoy kool ssorg,” he said, which she flipped round in her head and took to mean “You look gross.” On any other day this would have made her run to the nearest bathroom and whimper silently inside the stall, but on this special night she took it to mean that she looked pretty good. (...) “Sknaht,” she said. “Uoy oot.” Then Devin turned round and sort of pushed the back of his head into her cheek, which, she supposed, was his backwards attempt at a kiss. She melted at the touch of his baby-fine blond hair on her face. He smelled like soap and dreams.”
I felt happy for Rose. She finally managed to talk to her crush, Devin. :)
I didn’t like the part when Aunt Lily... stole the Bliss Cookery Booke!!! Did I make you curious? :) She needs the cookbook for her new television program. Surprisingly, the Bliss family doesn’t make such a fuss because the book is stolen... Read the story to find out the reason!
I have one question about something in this story: why is the cookbook called "Bliss Cookery Booke", “booke” having an “e” at the end? Why isn’t it written just “book”? Is it because it’s a special cookbook, not just an ordinary one? I have no idea... If you know the reason, please comment on my blog!
Rose learns something important during her adventures! In the beginning, she wants to be beautiful and famous, just like Aunt Lily! But, in the end, she realizes that it’s much more important living with a family that loves you! (“Rose wiped a salty tear from her cheek. “I just... I love you guys, is all.” Ty and Sage looked at Rose like she had five heads. Leigh just hugged her big sister’s leg. “I mean, we love you too, Rosita,” said Ty. “Duh! That goes without saying!”)
I give the book more than just five stars!!! :) And I would SOOOO LOVE to read the next book, “A Bliss Bakery Story – Sweet”!!! :)
P.S. You know... When I read the chapters about the people talking and doing everything backwards, I remembered of the book called “Moon Man” by David Donohue. If you read the book (or my book review), then you know that the title of each chapter was written backwards. There were many words written backwards in the story.
Ho on, I yllatnedicca eta a Nrut-Dnuora-Edisni-Tuo-Edispu-Nwod Ekac! I deen ot tae a Kcab-ot-Erofeb Yrrebkcalb Etrot! Kciuq! I epoh uoy dootsrednu tahw I dias! :))
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