A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

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This triggers off an entire round of events, that move from just being inconvenienced at finding a corpse in her workplace, to those affecting the entire kingdom. I loved every moment of this book - it was perfect for a cold winter's weekend snuggled up on the sofa! There's a few standard characters rolled in (pushy, loving aunt, a thief) as well as some intriguing ones (the uncle, the horse witch). The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

It’s fun and snappy and the gingerbread cookie and Bob the sourdough starter steal every scene they are in. But when her life gets knocked off its tracks with her discovery of a dead body in her aunt’s bakery, her path goes straight into the doings of the high and mighty. The story is about a murder mystery, there are dark echoes of totalitarianism and ethnic cleansing (all wizards either have to leave town or are murdered), and finally there's an army threatening the city while its usual defenders are away. If I was going to get thrown in the dungeon, at least I was going to leave a trail of quality pastries behind me.

We have our kids grow up too fast in stories, and although Mona does a fair bit of this given the responsibilities thrust upon her, I love that in the end she’s still a kid at heart. The supporting characters have fantastic depth and personality which really blends well to create this fabulous story. I stuck both hands into the soup tureen and tried to convince him that what the world needed was a whole lot more Bob.

Mona’s wry and often disgusted commentary on what’s happening around her and just how far the situation has been left to go awry reads like both Sixteen Ways and the Discworld. She has been nominated for the World Fantasy and the Eisner, and has won the Hugo, Sequoyah, Nebula, Alfie, WSFA, Cóyotl and Ursa Major awards, as well as a half-dozen Junior Library Guild selections. Her talent is in convincing dough that it wants to do what SHE wants it to do, so it rises properly and it doesn’t burn. Disclaimer: I don’t bake (unless burning something to a crisp can be considered baking), and apparently neither does T. Having been a fan of her fairy tale retellings for many years, I am so glad that she is finally getting the acclaim she deserves.die and those adults who should be in charge are fallible, this is still ultimately an uplifting and empowering tale. Una novela juvenil entrañable, adictiva y con una chispa especial gracias a su genial narradora, su ambientación es realmente lo que hace la lectura un poco de "lugar feliz" al menos para mi (la ciudad medieval con magia, hechiceros y conspiraciones) pero también tiene momentos bastante oscurillos y sorprende con alguno de sus giros y reflexiones. After all, when Leia talks about Obi-Wan being her “only hope” at least her expectations are fixed on a grown up. I just wish that the book had stuck to a smaller story - more minor magic, more sourdough starter and animated cookies, less of full-scale enemy invasion and magical powerhouse displays. With a side-kick named Bob (yeast starter), a gingerbread man familiar, and a newfound belief and understanding of her talents she almost single-handedly helps win a war/battle.

Puede hechizar masa, pan y hombres de jengibre y cuando la ciudad en la que vive empiece a correr peligro va a darse cuenta que con eso va a tener que ser suficiente para defender lo que ama. I’m quite happy the story is finished and offered a satisfying ending but I would definitely not be opposed to the further adventures of Mona or her friends. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. There should have been so many grown-ups who should have fixed things before it got down to me and Spindle.

Because even if she CAN manage to get better adults it’s not going to happen in time to save the city. Bob is a scene stealer, which is something I never would have guessed I would say about a gloppy bucket of yeast and dough that extends tentacles. As per author's note at the back on publication issues, IMO editors strongly underestimate children's taste.

Oh, and Mona is an “ apprentice baker and half-baked wizard of dough,” which doesn’t sound nearly as titillating as “nefarious breeder of murderous crustaceans” but is actually quite very scrumptious indeed. Locus commended Vernon's "ability to craft engagingly quirky characters", and her portrayal of "a Pratchettian world where magic makes for a mostly amusing background, except when it doesn't. Patricia Santomasso has an extensive catalog of audiobooks under her belt and it can be heard in her presentation of this story.The world's largest collection of books, toys and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls.