2009 SYDNEY TAYLOR NOTABLE BOOK FOR OLDER READERS

The year is 1945. Miss Fitzgerald is known for throwing her annual Sweet Semester baking and essay contest for fifth graders. Dorrie Meyers is determined to win this year, but her cakes fall flat, her cookies look like pancakes and she has no idea how to write about her creation. But, no matter, whatever she makes will be a delicious chocolate creation. While she worries about her sweet concoction, she also is concerned about families abroad, displaced in the wake of Hitler's terror. Then she meets her cousin Victor for the first time. Victor is an immigrant from Europe, and he is about to teach Dorrie that a loving family and a safe homeland are the sweetest things of all.  Ages 9-12.