Quick marvelous meals and nothing is made from scratch.

Sassy Simone Sanford plans a fabulous dinner party for her fourth grade class, but it turns into a recipe for disaster when her dog eats the food, her friends make a mess, and the new girl in school is missing.

Recommended Ages: Gr. 3-5

Plot Summary: Sassy and the rest of the school is baffled when a limo pulls up in front of school one morning. They wait and wait until finally the driver opens the door and a girl walks into school. She ends up sitting right next to Sassy. When everyone goes to lunch and Lillian continues to sit at her desk, Sassy tells the teacher she will stay with her. Slowly, Lillian opens up. When the class is asked to research anything they want and do a final project with their research, Sassy decides to have a dinner party. She researches recipes, makes a shopping list, prepares a menu, and invites the entire class to her house. Will her new friend Lillian show up?

Setting: unknown, might be city or suburb

Characters:
Sassy - 4th grader, wear blue and white uniforms to school
Jasmine Sanford - Sassy's best friend
Miss Armstrong - Sassy's english teacher
Lillian Ling - new girl, starts at a new school often because her parents both work, feels very lonely because she can't keep friends she makes and she rarely sees her parents
Other 4th graders: Travis, Rusty, Ricky, Holly, Basima, Iris, Misty, Camelita (aka Caramel), Princess
Mr. C - computer teacher
Sadora - 16 y/o, Sassy's big sister, takes pictures of the party
Sabin - 12 y/o, Sassy's big brother, overall pretty good to Sassy but teases her a bit
Zero - Sabin's dog who likes to eat people food
Mom - AKA Susan
Daddy - AKA Sam, likes to listen to his old CDs

Recurring Themes: food preparation, grocery shopping, friendship, befriending the new girl, family

Controversial Issues: none

Personal Thoughts: I did not like this book at all. I randomly chose one from the series so I could booktalk it to my students. I am very disappointed because generally Sharon Draper is a fantastic author, however I hated the writing. I felt like she was telling me everything that was happening rather than bringing me into the story and feeling it with the characters. The dialogue seemed inauthentic and everyone got along perfectly with no fights. Basically, the suspenseful moment was the party and if Lillian was going to show up, but there wasn't much suspense with that. All of the dialogue was awkward.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Pacing: medium-slow, the action is shopping for food and making stuff, because of the poor writing it takes longer to read
Characters: not authentic at all
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