"It says in my baby book that when I was born, my parents couldn’t believe how big and beautiful I was – I weighed nine pounds and five ounces, and I’m convinced that’s why they called me Donahue Penelope Schneider – they wanted a fancy name to match my size.” - No Room for Dessert by Hallie Durand
With virtually no warning, it seems like Dessert’s life story is being written in invisible ink. Nobody in the Schneider house seems to remember she exists. Her school picture hanging on the fridge? Covered. The promise of burritos? Forgotten. And her baby brother doesn’t even know her name. (He calls her “dirt.”) Dessert wants to get back on her family’s radar…but how?
"The table was sticky, there was a cloudy smudge on my water glass, and we'd been seated for ten minutes with no sign of a waitress." - What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out.
"As my daughter Sulfia was explaining that she was pregnant but that she didn't know by whom, I paid extra attention to my posture." - The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky
Rosa Achmetowna is the outrageously nasty and wily narrator of this rollicking family saga. When she discovers that her 17-year-old daughter, “stupid Sulfia,” is pregnant by an unknown man she does everything to thwart the pregnancy. But despite her best efforts the baby, Aminat, is born nine months later at Soviet Birthing Center Number 134. Much to Rosa’s surprise and delight, dark eyed Aminat is a Tartar through and through and instantly becomes the apple of her grandmother’s eye. While her good for nothing husband Kalganow spends his days feeding pigeons at the city park, Rosa wages an epic struggle to wrestle Aminat away from Sulfia, whom she considers a woefully inept mother. When Aminat, now a wild and willful teenager, catches the eye of a sleazy German cookbook writer researching Tartar cuisine, Rosa is quick to broker a deal that will guarantee all three women a passage out of the Soviet Union. But as soon as they are settled in the West, the uproariously dysfunctional ties that bind mother, daughter and grandmother begin to fray.
If you would like to put any of these titles on hold, just click on the title above and you will be re-directed to the library catalog listing for the book. Or give us a call at (609) 654-6113 and we would be happy to put it on hold for you!
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