The paper still doesn’t know that she is only eleven and her parents have no idea that she is writing reviews. The second book, The Stars of Summer, has Gladys having successfully completed her first restaurant review for the newspaper. It was also comical to read it with J because she would ask me what an ingredient was, I would explain it, and then the book would use similar terms to explain it in the very next sentence. J is now all for making a traditional Indian dessert called Gajar ka halwa thanks to this book (recipe included in the book). Gladys has also befriended the owner of a the local gourmet food shop and her friend Sandy’s mom likes to experiment with desserts. Gladys is also fortunate in that one of her few friends is Indian with parents who cook classic foods from their homeland. But when her essay for the contest gets mistaken for an actual cover letter for a food writer, she and her new friends test how far she will go to get a real review.Īs for exploring new foods, while Gladys’s parents are not adventurous, Gladys learns about food from her aunt who takes her on culinary tours of NYC. Her newest friend, Sandy, would agree that her writing about wanting to be a vet seems far fetched when he thinks she has a future in food writing (having been the only person let in on her secret of the fact that she reviews all of the food she eats and has been for the past 4 years). Gladys’s first go lacks passion and her teacher tells her so. At school, her new teacher assigns the 6th graders a writing assignment for a contest held by the New York Standard newspaper in which they are supposed to write about their future. When she accidentally sets the kitchen curtains on fire making creme brulee, her cooking days are over, at least for the next six months.

Because of this, all of her food explorations are done in secret. In All Four Stars, eleven year old Gladys Gatsby loves all things food, but comically her parents are the ones who prefer take-out and are less likely to try new things. She enjoyed the first book so much that we immediately purchased book 2, The Stars of Summer, and now we are eagerly anticipating book 3 to arrive on our doorstep. It sat on her massive “to read” shelf for a little while, but once she finally cracked open the pages, she was caught under its spell as well. I inhaled the book and then encourage J to read it. I had been enticed as a foodie and also because it was about a child who loved both food and writing.

I first read All Four Stars and thought that it was super fun.

At 9, she has started to be more willing to expand her culinary horizons and books like All Four Stars are a great way to entice her palate. In the charming series, All Four Stars, by Tara Dairman, J’s eyes were opened to a variety of foods and ingredients that she had never come across. It is wonderful when a book can encourage a child to see outside of their personal bubble.

Stars So Sweet by Tara Dairman