This sweet, middle grade book is told in letters written by eleven-year-old Mo to her recently deceased grandmother “Nan.” When Nan dies and Mo’s Uncle Billy admits he can’t become her guardian, Mo enters the foster care system. But this isn’t “that kind” of novel. Even though it takes a few tries before Mo finds a good fit, almost everyone she knows in her hometown of New York City helps her find her forever family.

As the novel begins, Mo takes Nan’s advice and starts a hobby – she teaches herself how to cook, learning from family recipes. She chooses family recipes because they usually come with history, an interesting story, and most importantly, with lots of love attached. The real goal of her recipe project, in addition to looking to find a family member who might have a recipe to share with her, is that Mo is really looking for her own family.

The theme of food and passing down recipes in a family, generation after generation, demonstrates the connection between people. Mo names her project the Family Cookbook and makes a website of the recipes and photos of the food that she cooks. She explains, “I want the recipes I post to feel like a shared family cookbook. Like a scrapbook of stories and memories and food that mean a lot to people.”

I enjoyed Mo’s personality and determination, the novel’s letter writing style, the recipes included, and the theme of family and food. I highly recommend this heartwarming story. ( )

First sentence: Dear Nan,
You died on a Tuesday.
Given how much you hated Tuesdays, it makes sense it would cement its place in history as the worst day ever.

Premise/plot: Mo Gallagher keeps a private journal in which she writes to her grandma. Mo is in for a tough time. Her Nan has died. Her Uncle Bill--who's in the military--is refusing to become her guardian. Mo is entering the foster care system. She's mourning the loss of just about everything. Everything seems to be in a constant state of change, change, and more change. But one thing Mo is holding onto with both hands is this idea of learning to cook, not only learning to cook, but learning to cook FAMILY recipes. It starts with a book she finds. She wants strangers near and far to share family recipes with her. She has a TikTok channel where she shares her cooking journey. She would love to find members of the Gallagher family to share *her* own *family* recipes.

My thoughts: I wanted to like this one more than I liked it. It could just be my own head space. I liked it more than I disliked it. I can't really say why this was an 'almost' for me. I like how Mo uses cooking to cope with all the many challenges she's facing. I like how Mo is persistent. When a recipe proves tricky or difficult, she keeps trying and trying and trying until she's made something edible at least. It's a life skill for sure. This hobby is definitely shaping her character for the better. While Mo definitely has an easy time being successful and gaining followers and fans, Mo has a more realistic struggle with forming attachments in real life. I'm glad that not every single thing was 'easy' for her. There wasn't a case of instant-love when it comes to finding adoptive parents, foster parents, etc. ( )