Dessert First
Scholastic Book Club Selection
Nominee for Pennsylvania Readers Choice Award
2009 Cybils Nominee
Translations: Turkish
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Just Desserts
2010 Cybils Nominee
Amazon - Barnes & Noble - bookshop.org
No Room for Dessert
Dessert First
Hallie Durand (aka Holly M. McGhee), illustrated by Christine Davenier
Dessert Schneider has her very own personal style. But sometimes walking to the beat of her own drum means walking right into a heap of mischief, especially when it comes to the legendary family recipe (and Dessert’s all-time favorite treat), Grandma Reine’s Double-Decker Chocolate Bars. As the oldest in a rambunctious, restaurant-owning family of six, Dessert seems to be better at getting into trouble than getting out of it. And that’s because, for this eight-year-old, saying sorry is definitely not a piece o’cake! In a starred review Publishers Weekly writes, "Readers will be left craving a second helping." Look to the right for more on book two!
Just Desserts
Hallie Durand (aka Holly M. McGhee), illustrated by Christine Davenier
Dessert and her lunch-table buddies have been exposed to a highly contagious disease—The Annoying Sibling Disease. And while it seems like just yesterday that Dessert reigned supreme over Charlie and the Beasties (aka her brothers) now they are ruining her life. If she doesn’t come up with a plan to stop their unruly behavior, it will be the end of civilization as she knows it. Taking inspiration from her classroom study of General George Washington and the winter at Valley Forge, Dessert comes up with a plan to “Let Freedom Ring.” But will she really be able to stop the Annoying Siblings? Or has Dessert bitten off more than she can chew?
No Room for Dessert
Hallie Durand (aka Holly M. McGhee), illustrated by Christine Davenier
All of a sudden it seems like Dessert’s life story is being written in invisible ink! It’s getting harder and harder to believe that anyone in the Schneider house even remembers that she lives there. Her school picture hanging on the fridge? Covered! The promise of burritos? Forgotten! Her baby brother doesn't even know her name! (He calls her “dirt.”) Dessert decides that she needs a plan to get back on her family’s radar—and hopefully make them all feel like “dirt” for a change.
Let there be light bulbs! Dessert has an idea. All she has to do is win her classroom’s invention contest, which should be a piece o’ cake. But, things get worse before they get better...soon, they are so bad, Dessert may need all the double fudge sundaes in the world to make her feel like herself again—or maybe just a surprising new friend.
“As might be expected from her name alone, Dessert, the spunky narrator of this refreshing debut, takes to heart her third-grade teacher's advice to march to one's own drummer.”
—Publishers Weekly, Dessert First (starred review)
“This book is SWEET!”
—Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review, Dessert First
“Children will easily identify with Dessert and her difficulties in this lively, always humorous story.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Just Desserts
“Another romp full of zesty, true-life fun.”
—Kirkus Reviews, No Room for Dessert
“I appreciate the emotional honesty that shines through each of the Dessert stories. One can easily imagine any young girl coming up with the same schemes and engaging in the same shenanigans as Dessert. Yet the author does a nice job constructing the stories in such a way that Dessert learns valuable lessons each time without destroying the entertainment value.”
—Marina, Seattlepi.com