"In this latest book in the heimish and accessible Saralee Siegel series, Saralee and her Zadie are planning the Shavuot cheesecakes for the family restaurant, with her best friend Harold ready to design the cakes' decorations. Saralee's 'super-nose' reconstructs a recipe from Zadie's childhood, and with it, a magical, movie-like memory of antics with his best friend, Irving. But in school the next day, Saralee learns she was the only girl not invited to Rachel's birthday party, and the girls are forming a club which also excludes her. Rachel's excuse is that they're classmates but not really friends, because Saralee is always with Harold, not her.

The friendship dilemma is the heart of the book, and it illustrates the pain of such exclusions, the balance of best friend and other friends, and unintentionally hurting the best friend to be one with the crowd. It's the rare child who hasn't experienced these things in some form.

Saralee courts Rachel and her crowd, earning entrance to their movie-making club by sharing her powers to invoke visions with baked goods. What starts out in awe and wonder starts to take over Saralee's life. Harold is left by the wayside and worse than that, becomes the object of embarrassment in one of the visions.

Zadie can tell things are not right with Saralee and Harold. He reminds her of the truth in the holiday they're preparing to celebrate. Stories are powerful, Zadie says, and it's important for Saralee to focus on the ones that are like Torah, stories that matter, feel true, and brighten the world. Saralee quickly bakes a cake that invokes all the good memories of her friendship with Harold and brings it to him with her apology.

Her family's restaurant opens; Saralee's cheesecakes fly off the shelves. Her classmate Talia comes with her parents, and she tells Saralee she'd like to be friends with both her and with Harold, whom she thinks is a nice, smart, and fun person. And Zadie's old friend Irving shows up too, happy to resume their old friendship.

The magical realism is fun, but it's the challenges of grade school friend politics and Saralee's warm relationship with her Zadie that are the icing on the cake. Wonderful for Jewish readers, this will work for others as well, and for general collections. A recipe for Saralee's Honey Walnut Surprise Cheesecake is included."

--Association of Jewish Libraries