Warning: Once you open The Doughnut King, you’ll be stuck in the story for eternity. Start reading it, and you’ll never stop. Well, that is, until author Jessie Janowitz decides to free you by officially changing the story. The Doughnut King is filled with the perfect amount of action and sweetness, enough to create a robust portal that transports you into the story. Meet Tristan Levin, known as Tris. Tris has been cooking and baking before he learned how to say “food.” Tris moves to a small town in New York called Petersville. Petersville is slowly disappearing, but not the way you think it is. Every year, only a couple of families move to Petersville. A couple, as in two or three. More people move away than people who move to Petersville, and the mayor of Petersville, Jim, thinks this needs to be stopped. There are only one stoplight and a couple of shops. Tris has a doughnut shop he runs in Petersville with his friend Josh, called The Doughnut Stop. The Doughnut Shop’s doughnuts are impressive, according to everyone. Jim thinks food will keep Petersville from disappearing and makes that a goal. Tris needs to make more doughnuts, but he and Josh are already trying their best. Many people come to get doughnuts but have to wait four hours, only to see the words: SOLD OUT. If only there would be a way to make more donuts, he could maybe save Petersville. Even more excitement awaits in the book. Tris finds a solution to the doughnut problem: A Doughnut Robot. This robot makes ninety dozens donuts an hour, which is perfect for their business. Actually, even better than perfect. There’s a big problem, though, which is that the Doughnut Robot costs $50,000. Now Tris’s whole family knows about the Doughnut Robot and its cost. Before he knows it, his nine-year-old sister Jeanine has secretly sent an audition video to a famous cooking contest, “Can You Cut It?” and they accept the video. Tris is mad, but the rest of the family thinks it is a fantastic idea, and mostly because if he wins, he gets $100,000, enough to buy a Doughnut Robot. Tris is still unsure if he has enough courage and talent to win the prize, though. The book is fantastic, with many surprising and unexpected features. But some elements in the book confuse me, especially in the first few chapters. In chapter three, Tris sees a comment that tells how bad the Doughnut Stop is, and he tries to delete it but can’t, and then Josh walks in. Tris asks him how to delete them, and Josh tells him he forgot and didn’t finish, and then it says: “But Josh didn’t need to finish. The truth was floating right over his head in caps.” What truth? It doesn’t clarify what truth it talks about in the book. Then Tris says Josh lied. Lied about what? Why did he lie? The dialogue is very unclear in those pages, which often confuses people. Nevertheless, The Doughnut King’s story is embedded in unexpected but fascinating characters, settings, and plots. Predict what will happen, and you will probably be surprised; unpredictable always, always, happens in The Doughnut King. The Doughnut King is highly recommended to any reader, especially those who love baking and cooking. Anyone can enjoy such an incredible book. The Doughnut King by Jessie Janowitz. Sourcebooks Young Readers, 2020. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Reviewed by Olivia, 10
When you pick up a fantasy book, you may think, “ugh, another book about the typical fantasy story.” This is what most people assume after reading countless books with the same type of characters, plot, and setting. The Girl Who Drank The Moon is different. Written by Kelly Barnhill, the unique introduction, plot, setting, and characters wrap a magical enchantment around anyone who reads the book. Be ready to be sucked into the world of the Protectorate where every kind of magic is possible. Chapter One, “In Which A Story Is Told,” is where the adventure starts, an adventure unlike any other you have ever seen. Every person who lives in the Protectorate believes and agrees on one thing: a murdering evil witch lives in the woods. This witch steals babies away from families, leaving them in sorrow and misery. That’s not at all. The witch who lives in the woods, Xan, is a wise, elderly, and kind woman who was born magical. She lives with some friendly magical creatures, a dragon named Fyrian, and a magical sea creature named Glerk. She never knew the baby that was put under the tree every year was only offered to her because they were scared of her; Xan had thought that they just offered these babies because they were unwanted. She would raise them to an appropriate age, then she would give these children to the other side of the forest, the Free Cities. Now, the Free Cities were safe and happy cities, unlike the mixed up Protectorate. The families of the Free Cities were ever so grateful for the witch and thought her a kind and compassionate witch. One year, Xan was “offered” an ordinary baby. This baby’s mother, once the baby is taken away, goes mad. The mother is locked up in a tower, and not allowed outside. When Xan arrives safely back at her house, she makes a mistake she had never made before: feeding this baby moonlight, instead of starlight, turning this baby from an ordinary baby to an extraordinary one. She decides she has to raise this magical child herself. She names the baby Luna, and begins on her journey to raise her. Luna grows as fast as a baby could grow. First she’s three, then six, then seven, nine, twelve. Meanwhile, in the Protectorate, crazy things are happening. A young man by the name of Antain has announced that he will kill the witch, or die trying. That’s not the only crazy thing that the author decided to add. A volcano, dormant for centuries, has decided to plot some revenge. Filled with chapters of excitement, adventure, and magic, this book perfectly describes the unique story of the most unique characters, in the most enchanting setting. Even though the book has many great elements, it also has some faults. After reading the book, I felt like the content was just a bit overloaded. I tried to summarize it, but I couldn’t summarize it without reading the whole book. The order of events was confusing, and it was an easy mistake to mix up the events and switch parts around. I also want to know how Luna’s mother, at the end, suddenly became normal. That aspect was kind of confusing to understand. The book’s brilliance outshines the faults though, and not just marginally but significantly. This book is highly recommended not to just a few types of readers, but all readers. The enchantment is just too strong to hold back, and before you know it, the book will mesmerize you, and you’ll never forget the magical feeling the book gives you. The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Algonquin Young Readers, 2019. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
King of Shadows, Reviewed by Olivia, 10
“Th’art a true actor, sprite.” Starring Nat Field, King of Shadows is written by Susan Cooper. Yes, maybe it is another book about acting, but look deeper. Nat’s life is a performance. Singing with joy, flipping with agility, miserable things happening in the most unexpected areas, taking off with emotion that we’ve never, ever met. Nat’s life is difficult, like many others. Not even difficult, it feels impossible. It seems as if every ten seconds something miserable occurs. Nat’s mom dies from cancer and just when we think, how can things be harder? His dad commits suicide for the great loss of Nat’s mom. Even harder. He cries every time he thinks about his dad or someone mentions something about his parents. The author had Nat go over obstacles that Nat was always clueless about, always making the obstacles at the end. Even though he has his sad life, he has one main talent, a talent that always makes him happy: acting. The Boys Company is Nat’s acting company, with many friends, kind Rachel, his voice coach, and Gil Warmun, who acts with so much emotion that even the audience feels it. Even with his friends, his life is tragic. One day, the day that changes his life forever, he has a dream of a hand pulling him away from the Earth, then pulling him close to the Earth to the next day. The next morning Nat is taken to the past, Shakespeare’s time. Nat’s adventure to 1599 Elizabethan England has begun. Nat soon meets Shakespeare, astonishingly, and joins the Chamberlain’s Men. He feels as if Shakespeare resembles a father figure. However, though he feels like he belongs, the one person he wants removed from the Chamberlain’s Men is the selfish and cruel Roper, who tries to embarrass Nat every time he has a chance. The drama magically transforms the book, while every single character has a positive impact on the story and each detail only makes it increasingly interesting. Of course, without Roper, the story wouldn’t be engaging. Without even one element, the book would fall apart. All the tiny details are the cement, and the characters, setting, and fascinating plot are the bricks, only able to fit together using the cement. The book needs every single drop of cement, to make it as exotic as it can be. Although the earlier parts of the book are pretty straight forward, some confusion appears at the end of chapter ten. Shakespeare talks about the Earl of Essex, and some parts of the book are confusing. What clues lead to the fact that Nat says, “so that Essex was about to end up, sooner or later, among those terrible pecked-up skulls stuck up over the London Bridge.” How does he know which Earl of Essex it is? How does he know so much about Elizabethan England? There exists a second Earl of Essex, and a third. Questions usually jumble through my head when I read this part of the book. Many people don’t know much about Elizabethan England, like me. From this book, I have learned quite a lot about Elizabethan England, English Plays, Shakespeare, and much more about plays in general. Despite the comments, this book is wonderful, filled with enchantment, and brimming with love. Kind-hearted Shakespeare and the curious and talented Nathan Field–it’s the combination of characters that makes the book heartwarming, action-packed, and enjoyable. Finally, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves books made with love, happiness, drama, and curiosity. This book was written very well; everyone who reads it is sure to fall in love with it. King of Shadows by Susan Cooper. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2001. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
