The Secret Ingredient

August 30, 1999
It will be no secret to readers that there are multiple ingredients missing from this bland debut volume of the Katie Lynn Cookie Company series. After Katie Lynn Cooke's father informs her they can't afford a trip to Florida to visit Grandma, Katie Lynn and her best friend, Tina, bake a batch of cookies using Grandma's recipe, plus her "secret ingredient"--mayonnaise. Tina gives samples to a local restaurant owner who hires the girls to supply the dessert. After baking incessantly all summer, the two pals raise enough money to visit Katie Lynn's grandmother together. Yet when Katie Lynn and her friend tell Mrs. Cooke that they have earned enough for "us" to make the trip, the clueless woman assumes that "us" means Katie Lynn and her rather than Tina. With another leap of credibility, the young heroine solves the problem in a snap: "I used the money to fly Grandma here to see us!" Grandma suddenly appears on the doorstep and announces she's staying on permanently to help the girls bake and sell cookies. Katie Lynn gushes, "Oh, Grandma! That would be so incredible!" Readers may be inclined to agree. This title serves up little to satisfy youngsters' appetites; they may not stick around for seconds--Sandwiched!, the next installment. Ages 7-10.

February 1, 2000
Gr 2-4-Katie Lynn is devastated when her parents can't afford the annual vacation to visit her grandmother in Florida. She really misses the delicious cookies she has whenever she is there and decides to use her grandmother's recipe to bake her own. When a local restaurant owner decides to feature the cookies on his menu, the child and her best friend form a baking company to earn money for a trip to Florida, but business turns out to be lots more complicated than they had expected. The adult characters do not fare well in this book. Mom, in particular, is a cheerful incompetent who has to be carefully excluded from the real work of the cookie company. Katie Lynn seems to be the only practical one in her family. She even arranges for her grandmother to fly up for a visit without consulting her parents. When Grandma proposes to move in and help with the business, it is actually Katie Lynn who agrees to the arrangement. Not an essential purchase by any means, but a pleasant enough choice where there is high demand for easy chapter books.-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2000
Katie Lynn's baking-impaired parents drive her and her friend Tina to make their own cookies, which are so delicious a restaurant contracts for regular deliveries. Predictably, the girls become overwhelmed, but the ever-resourceful Katie Lynn has an idea. Illustrated with black-and-white drawings, the story is no surprise and characters are one-dimensional, but the light tone is entertaining.

(Copyright 2000 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)